Politics, Society

Harkin: “We Should Have Either Done [Health Care] The Correct Way or Not Done Anything At All.”

220px-Tom_Harkin_official_portraitPresident_Barack_ObamaWe recently discussed the stinging criticism of Sen. Chuck Schumer who called Obamacare a colossal political mistake and something that was not a priority for the American people. It was a remarkable admission from the third ranking and one of the most liberal Senate Democrats. Now, perhaps the most liberal departing member has given his own departing shot at the White House and Democratic Leadership. Retiring Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa has gone public with criticism that the Affordable Care Act was badly written and should not have been passed. Like Schumer, he is not questioning the value of health care but said that the current law was not worth doing because of its inherent flaws.

Harkin’s criticism was a bit different from Schumer, who indicated that he would have preferred not to have passed health care in the first term at all. Harkin told The Hill newspaper that ObamaCare that the leadership and White House blew it when they had the majority and should have gone all the way to guarantee funding and a more logical structure to the program: “We had the power to do it in a way that would have simplified healthcare, made it more efficient and made it less costly and we didn’t do it. So I look back and say we should have either done it the correct way or not done anything at all.”

I spoke on Capitol Hill before the passage of the ACA and remarked that the legislation was in the worst condition that I had seen in 30 years in terms of a major piece of legislation. As someone who supports national health care, it was very disappointing, if not alarming, to see the condition of the law. The few sections that I reviewed read like a first draft from a LA’s computer. Democratic staffers told me later that they agreed and that the legislation was not ready. However, with the death of Kennedy (and the replacement by Brown), the Democratic leadership and the White House decided to push through the poorly crafted law on a muscle vote — which led to a number of Democrats being defeated on the marginal vote. The result is that the ACA has been a continual struggle as hundreds of serious drafting errors and flaws have had to be addressed.

Harkin is the retiring chairman of the Senate health panel and helped write the law.

162 thoughts on “Harkin: “We Should Have Either Done [Health Care] The Correct Way or Not Done Anything At All.””

  4. Duh! How is what happened on HC any different from anything congress does? They never do anything the right way and most of the time they do nothing at all. As to Schumer – he is wrong – HC was on the agenda for the American public – that is one major reason why Obama was elected.

  5. Prairie Rose — there is no question that we should eat better, but our leading the world in “Death from Preventable Causes” is the result of, until recently, having 50 million people without health coverage. People in this situation put off doctor’s visits for as long as possible, and what might have been curable in it’s early stages has gone too far. Statistics show that they are 40% more likely to die than people with health coverage. Even after the ACA we still have 41 million without health coverage. Countries with national health plans cover every citizen. Indeed, in Spain, where my daughter lives, they have a lot of illegal immigration from Africa and the Arab world, and nobody gets turned away from medical care. So many Americans moan about what would Jesus do, then stare at their shoe tops while their fellow Americans die.

  7. Jonathan, you’re clearly repeating lies. Obamacare passed by zero votes in the Senate. Moving it one step to the left would have cost several Blue Dogs immediately. Harkin is covering for his loss.

    Schumer, of course, only the most liberal senator if you ignore him bering a major wh*re forWall St

  10. “America has had the highest percentage, for some years, in the industrialized world, in the sad category of deaths from preventable causes.”

    This issue has little to do with the quality of healthcare or availability of health insurance, but so much to do with what we Americans put into our mouths.

    If we want to lower our health expenditures, we need to start eating better.

  11. Karen S. In the Wall Street Journal article you referred to, there were some very interesting, and relevant, items that you seemed to overlook. The article pointed out that rating the United States 37th in health care was inaccurate; we really should be ranked 15th. It does not make me feel much like popping a champagne cork that despite the fact that we spend far more than anyone else per capita on health care, we only rank 15th. You also left out the damning fact that we have recently slipped in that most important measure of the worth of a health care system — life expectancy. So, despite spending more per capita than any other country, we rank 24th in male life expectancy, and 35th in female life expectancy. I understand factors like diet, murder rates and listening to Republicans might have a negative influence on life expectancy, but there it is.

    I have friends whose Obamacare experience is much more positive than yours, but I don’t doubt that it has worked poorly for you. Let me once again suggest that when we move to a national health plan, as we surely must, since our current system is not only financially unsustainable but it leaves tens of millions without coverage, we do as the Taiwanese did — pick the best elements out of the national health plans that are out there, and combine them. There is no reason we can’t both save money and demonstrate that we finally understand that health care is a human right.

  12. Does this guy Harkin smoke tobacco? Do not trust any Congress person on a health care bill if they are a smoker. They went in dumb and come out dumb too. Suicide is painless and all that. If he is not a tobacco smoker then what was he smoking when he voted for the Bill? It is not like he is voting for Bill Clinton, he is voting for a piece of legislation which we call a Bill. He is likely to hear a Bill of Particulars when he passes on and reaches the Pearly Gates. We are not talking Bill Gates up on some Windows Cloud here. Bad law? You chaired the Committee? Go back to Iowa and do not pass Go.

  13. People are blind to facts when they have their anecdotal stories. I shouls just say that ACA is the greatest thing since the electric light because my healthcare costs went down and I had many more choices for insurance. But no, the facts are that many are paying more and the system is overly complicated and a corporate owned congress made sure insurance companies are making huge profits on the ill and insured. .

    During the ‘glorious’ Bush GOP years of 20001 to 2006/2008 my insurance more than doubled in price and received FEWER benefits at greater cost. Was that GOP progress? Memories too quickly fade to the GOP years when healthcare costs doubled and they did absolutely NOTHING to control an out of control system. O course, they did offer grandma a donut hole and gave phama non competitive laws so they could charge outrageous prices.

    Some data:

    At Kaiser is a nice chart that helps to understand healthcare costs and rate increases. Healthcare costs for a family increased from $6438 to $12,106, or 47%, under the GOP from 2001-2007, but since 2007 the increase has been from 12,106 to %16,351, or 26%.

    And healthcare costs since the introduction of ACA have slowed dramatically for many and are falling for some:

    “Total healthcare spending in 2012 came in at $2.79 trillion—up just 3.7 percent over the previous year and continuing a four-year trend of significantly reducing the amount of growth in annual healthcare expenditures.
    By way of comparison, before the recent recession, we were averaging annual increases in health care spending of over 7 percent during the calendar years 2000-2008.

    The current numbers represent the slowest rate of growth since the government began tracking the data in 1960.”

    GOP claim ACA is bad for business and that the free market is better suited to handle healthcare. Well here you go GOP:

    • There will be a 25 percent increase in the number of health insurance issuers offering Marketplace coverage in 2015 compared to 2014.
    • At least 4 states will double the amount of insurers participating.
    • There will be at least 67 new insurers in the individual and family marketplace and 10 in the small business place.
    • Some of the nation’s top insurers will be offering plans in the marketplace. This is a good sign that private businesses are seeing the marketplaces as an attractive business opportunity

    Those are all pro free market findings. Yet GOP still uses stale talking points that inflame the base.

    The GOP has fought healthcare legislation for four years in order to stop price stabilization, an increased number of insured and to stifle free market competition. What is the GOP healthcare plan again? I’m still waiting….

  14. The fed govt has no business in health care other than to regulate against fraud & such. If the govt would quit killing our economy via the Cloward And Piven Strategy, over regulation, high taxes & let free markets work, we would not have this designed mess. The ACA was made to be a mess so govt could eventually eliminate ins co’s & do their control freak single payer /socialist big brother crap.

    If the fed govt would quit killing our economy & people could find jobs, many of these issues would be resolved.

    What we needed was to let insurance companies sell state to state and let us decide for ourselves. Also tort law needs some going over so the loser pays. Way to many frivolous lawsuits in this country.

    What we desperately need is a return of Constitutional restraints on the fed govt. We need to cut spending, quit raising the debt ceiling, cut burroacracies, lower taxes & let free markets be free. We need some regulation to be sure, but not the 1,000’s & 1000’s of pages of laws we have now.

    Look up The Depression You Never Heard Of

    The USA is proof that man cannot rule himself very long before the liars, thieves & control freaks take over. We once had a grand form of govt. It’s dead now, so whatta we do next? The NWO?

    All the NWO will bring is big brother control freaks, liars & thieves on a global scale.

    SamFox

  15. Vix:

    “Chip S. Thanks for the informative statistics on cancer cure rates in various countries, though I find it odd that they left out France, the one country whose rates are supposed to be most comparable to ours.”

    So it’s changed from every nationalized health care system is better than ours, to only France, which everyone knows is going bankrupt, and tried to tax the wealthy 95%, driving them out of the country?

    “I’m surprised that Spain’s cure rates are lower than ours. When we go to a national health plan, as we surely will, there is no reason we can’t maintain the same rates we have currently.”

    Based on what? You have a feeling that everything should work out? Because that’s not how things work. Already, every single doctor I’ve had, and every surgeon my husband has had, and every facility where he’s had surgeries, does not accept Obamacare. So, already, our standard of healthcare has lowered. And Obamacare policies restrict patients on location. Before, I could go to any hospital in CA. Now, I’m restricted to my area. So people with cancer can no longer seek out the treatment center that specializes in their cancer, or who has the latest technology. If you aren’t lucky enough to live near one, and if that facility does not accept Obamacare, you just lost your chance at remission and survival. And according to the CA MA, many facilities do NOT accept Obamacare.

    That’s a reason right there why we can’t maintain the same survival rates we currently have.

    It doesn’t matter how you feel, or that it’s inconceivable that anything we do to could possibly lower us from the pinnacle of health care. What matters is the actual results.

    We’ve already been knocked out of our #1 spot as the top economy in the globe, thanks in part to Obama and his addiction to spending. Why would health care be any different?

  16. You know, people can clamor about how wonderful Obamacare is, and how in spite of the disaster running the Exchange sites, more nationalized health care is the answer, but there is no escaping the facts.

    The overwhelming majority of people oppose Obamacare. The cost of health insurance rose astronomically under Obamacare for the unsubsidized. It was passed on documented lies.

    So it really doesn’t matter what supporters say on blogs. The people do not like it and do not want it. Nor do they want single payor. And Medicare is running out of money.

    Dems put a wrecking ball through the insurance industry and made everything worse. There is no escaping these hard truths.

    And the way that Dem pols are running from Obamacare, with their pants on fire, makes its supporters sound rather naive.

  17. And anytime government takes away consumer choices is a bad thing.

    Before, consumers could choose a policy that met their needs and budget. The problem was improving healthcare for the poor. Well, now no one gets to choose what kind of policy they want, and they all are astronomically expensive without the subsidies. And the poor still can’t access good doctors, because they can’t afford to accept the plans. So they STILL don’t have access to quality health care.

  18. What I want is a complete repeal of Obamacare. A bill that LITERALLY stacks up to 6 feet tall is a monstrosity.

    Then I would start with bills that did one or two things at a time. Make an adjustment, and see the result, make an adjustment, and see the result.

    But that is too obvious and logical a method.

  20. Oh, and does anyone realize that, according to the trustees, Medicare is projected to run out of money by 2030?

    But, hey, let’s dump everyone in the nation on a system that is already unable to self sustain.

    AND let’s add lots of free stuff, such as 26 forms of birth control with no copay, regardless of the income level of the patient. Let’s fight for Paris Hilton to have no copay on birth control.

    That ought to solve Medicare’s financial crisis.

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