More Fall-Out From Obama's Health Care Speech-- Focus: Paul Ryan (R-WI), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Barbara Boxer (D-CA)

Bobby Bright forgot his make-up

Last night Barbara Boxer hit a nerve with the American people when she said to her colleagues-- during an appearance with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC-- "If you don't vote for this [the public option], then give up your health insurance. Because your health insurance is run by the public; it's a government-run plan. And if you don't think it's good enough for you, then drop it... If you're going to keep it, then you'd better give other people a chance."

Earlier in the day the DNC sent out a press release to media outlets in Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee and Janesville in southeast Wisconsin calling out sleazy Republican corporate shill Paul Ryan for his duplicitous role in the health care debate and for his knee jerk reaction to President Obama's speech last night-- which, unlike Ryan, most normal Americans-- those who haven't received $1,211,115 in thinly disguised bribes from the Insurance Industry, the Medical-Industrial Complex and their lobbyists-- appreciated, understood and regarded highly.

We’ve heard plenty of Republicans’ partisan, inflammatory, and misleading attacks, but we haven’t heard a lot of solutions.  A simple question for Representative Paul Ryan: what is your solution to the urgent need for health insurance reform?

“As a Member of Congress who doesn’t have to worry about the taxpayer-paid health insurance for themselves or their family, it’s easy for Republicans to say ‘no’ to health insurance reform,” said Jennifer Crider, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Representative Paul Ryan, the question is simple: what is your solution to the need for health insurance reform?  Criticism comes naturally to Representative Ryan, but constituents deserve more than Ryan’s lip service on health insurance reform.”
 
“Representative Ryan shouldn’t put big insurance companies’ interests before the needs of hardworking Americans struggling to pay for health insurance for their families.”

Ryan, along with his wife Janna and his 3 children, Liza, Charlie and Sam, use the same health care system that the insurance companies are bribing him to fight against for his constituents-- the ones who subsidize his family's platinum-plated health care. So where are the Republican Party's suggestions-- supposedly being formulated by Roy Blunt and Ryan-- that will help solve the problems of health care plaguing the American people?

In Ryan's own district, there are 73,000 unemployed people-- 51,000 of whom would be eligible for high quality, affordable health insurance if President Obama's proposals overcome Republican obstacles. In fact, according to the study by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as many as 14,000 small businesses in WI-01 could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 9,400 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; and 1,600 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs. Considering Ryan's unbelievably bad record on delivering for his district, it would be hard to understand why he's against everything-- until you look at the gargantuan "contributions" he gets from corporate special interests in the health care debate-- more than any other member of the Wisconsin congressional delegation in history!

Now... to be fair, when President Obama brought up the fact that there is virtually no competition in Alabama-- and that 90% of the people with health insurance there are forced to buy it from just one company-- he wasn't just pointing to Republicans. In fact, the memo the DNC sent out about Paul Ryan, could just as easily have been sent out to media in Montgomery, Troy, Greenville, Dothan and Andalusia about their own representative, reactionary Blue Dog Bobby Bright, as die-hard an opponent of health care reform as Ryan and the Republicans. Bright-- as well as fellow Alabama Blue Dog Parker Griffith-- has vowed to oppose any meaningful health care reform. This is especially odd because Bright's Alabama district would gain even more from reform than Ryan's! The same House Energy and Commerce Committee report that we quoted in regard to Ryan's district, shows that Bright's district is far more distressed. "America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 2nd Congressional District of Alabama: up to 12,600 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 7,900 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 1,990 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $118 million in uncompensated care each year; and 91,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance."

• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 12,600 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 7,900 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.

• Health care and financial security. There were 1,990 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.

• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $118 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.

• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 110,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 17% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 91,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.

• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 1,700 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 99.4% of taxpayers in the district.