Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Timothy Jost on HR 3962 and Other Matters

By John Ballard



A previous post presented a brief outline of where Congressional legislation now stands on its way to being delivered.



Timothy Jost, in a trio of summary posts, combs through nearly two thousand pages of legislative mouseprint to find details that only a dedicated policy wonk could love. I'm putting the links up with a few snips but I'm not holdingmy breath or getting too worked up over anything. In this case it ain't over til the fat lady first goes on a diet, then sings.



HR 3962: The Affordable Health Care for Americans Act



One of the most important contributions of the latest version of the House bill is that it offers a host of programs and regulatory initiatives that would be noticed immediately or in the very near future by many Americans. (See the previous post for an overview,)








The Public Option And Insurance Exchange In The House Bill



[...]This post will look more closely at some of the bill�s basic insurance
reform elements....



To begin, there is the public option. It is one of the most popular
features of the bill�many polls find that it is supported by a majority
of Americans�but the media continues to insist that it is a loony
left-fringe idea and it terrifies the insurance industry. Some analysts
believe the public option to be the most effective cost-control
mechanism in the reform legislation, as a public plan paying something
close to Medicare rates could introduce competition into markets which
a single or small group of insurers currently dominate. This includes
the vast majority of local insurance markets in the United States.



Insurers have little to fear from this public plan, however, it is in
all likelihood a paper tiger.












The House Health Reform Bill: Delivery System Reforms And Other Provisions



In this final post, I will explore the remaining 1600 pages of HR 3962. Although these provisions have received less attention (except from the interest groups immediately affected by them), they will in fact work important changes in the American health care system.



First, however, I will mention a few provisions buried in the health care financing reform provisions�the first 400 pages of the bill�that are worth noting. First, the �compromise� worked out on abortion in the Energy and Commerce Committee is included in the bill. Currently federal funds cannot be used to pay for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment. But, according to some reports, most private insurance plans cover abortion. If private plans are to be more heavily regulated and funded through premium subsidies, what affect will this have on abortion?



[JB ed. Additional remarks about abortion. My guess is that language here will be carefully crafted to allow future discussion and consideration of FOCA. This is not the time or place to finally settle yet another inflammatory issue.]



Topics covered at this link include...




  • The House�s �Public Option�: Strengths And Weaknesses

  • How Would The Public Plan Negotiate With Providers?

  • The House�s Health Insurance Exchange Proposal 

  • The House�s Exchange: An Active Negotiator, Not A Passive Price-Taker Like The Senate�s Exchanges   

  • Other Health Care Financing Provisions




Sometimes I report and you decide.
This time I'm not gonna do more than pass along the links.
Get out a shovel and do your own reporting. The reader has a lot of shit to dig through.

If it helps, pretend you're a Congressional staffer and your only reward will be a pat on the head by one of our elected representatives whose loyalty is divided between voters and campaign contributors.
And make no mistake about it, those two groups are not congruent.



Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)