Maine Owl

Gerald posted HERE that the "best" thing that could happen on health reform is that a watered down plan fail. Maybe. But I think it's very positive that the House Blue Dogs have met a progressive buzz saw.

The words of the president most certainly tell the truth about the problems that must be solved:

President Obama: Let me be specific. We will stop insurance companies from denying you coverage because of your medical history. (Applause.) I've told this story before -- I will never forget watching my own mother, as she fought cancer in her final days, worrying about whether her insurer would claim her illness was a preexisting condition so they could wiggle out of paying for her coverage. How many of you have worried about the same thing? (Applause.) A lot of people have gone through this. Many of you have been denied insurance or heard of someone who was denied insurance because they got -- had a preexisting condition. That will no longer be allowed with reform. (Applause.) We won't allow that. (Applause.) We won't allow that.

With reform, insurance companies will have to abide by a yearly cap on how much you can be charged for your out-of-pocket expenses. No one in America should go broke because of an illness. (Applause.) We will require insurance companies to cover routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies -- (applause) -- eye and foot exams for diabetics, so we can avoid chronic illnesses that cost not only lives, but money. (Applause.)

No longer will insurance companies be allowed to drop or water down coverage for someone who's become seriously ill. That's not right, it's not fair. (Applause.) We will stop insurance companies from placing arbitrary caps on the coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime. (Applause.)

What remains to be seen is if there will be a bill with strong reforms covering all these directions, if there will be gang-of-six crap that makes a mockery of the president, or if there will be nothing. Today I'm feeling that if single-payer truly is barred (on the national level though perhaps not at the state), the first outcome is preferable to the third, but the middle outcome is the worst of all possible worlds.

Update: One more thing I meant to mention--Chelli Pingree is a progressive committed to a robust public option, while Mike Michaud poses as a Blue Dog. In Mike's favor he has said recently in an op-ed, "I support a public insurance option."

Update 2: Pingree did sign the aforementioned letter, Michaud did not.