Credit: Kelly O
MollyMoon.jpg
  • Kelly O

Remember when people like Molly Moon were furious at Maria Cantwell for not coming out swinging for the public option?

Well, now we have a raft of proposed Cantwell amendments to the Baucus Bill for health insurance reform, including an amendment Cantwell has cosponsored with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) to swap out Baucus’s “co-op compromise” for the strong public option proposed by the Senate HELP Committee. (PDF of amendment here—just search for “Schumer-Cantwell.”)

In July, frustration from Moon and other local small business owners led to this public expression of unhappiness with Cantwell:

“It’s unfortunate that a woman coming out of the business world isn’t really representing a lot of us progressive, female business owners on this issue,” [Moon] said. In late May, Washington’s other senator, Patty Murray, came to Moon’s store on Capitol Hill to hold a press event and express support for the public option. Cantwell, on the other hand, “seems to not really be taking the lead,” Moon said.

Today, in a press release put out by health insurance reform advocates here in Washington State, Moon seems to be a Cantwell backer again, offering this extended quote:

Senator Cantwell is showing real leadership and loyalty to her constituents by working to amend the Baucus Bill to provide small businesses and families the choice of purchasing a quality public health insurance plan. For small businesses to grow and build our economy, we have to fix health care this year, and it starts by providing more affordable choices. Increasing our choices with the addition of a public health insurance option competing with private insurers is essential to make health care affordable and keep the insurance industry honest.

Bottom line: the Baucus bill must be fixed. Until it is amended to strengthen affordability and provide the choice of a public health insurance plan, the bill is simply a gift to the insurance industry. We applaud Senator Cantwell for standing up for Washington families and small businesses by working to fix the Baucus bill and pass real health care reform this year.

And the bottom line for those, like Moon, who were raising a ruckus over Cantwell’s apparent wavering on the public option: the pressure worked.

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

13 replies on “Re: The Cantwell Amendments”

  4. Just saw the typical Democrite driving up Canyon Hill Drive.

    White Explorer SUV…female, about 50 with round granny sunglasses. Back hatch plastered with Obama Biden stickers. Smoking a cigarette and flicking the ashes out the window.

    What’s your guess this chick thinks the whole world should pay for her self-inflicted lung cancer while she drives with one hand in a gas guzzler, all the while proclaiming how The System owes her a life??

  5. I swung by Cantwell’s office here in Spokane earlier today to deliver my lemon (Move-on.org‘s idea; it’s to impress upon her that the Backus bill is a lemon). The staffer spent 30 minutes telling me everything Cantwell has done to support it. I told him she’d been a real quisling on this issue at first, and while I appreciate that she seems to have come around, she’s weaseled out on progressive issues before and I don’t trust her not to sell us out again.

    We absolutely need to keep up the pressure on her, especially those of us in the eastern part of the state where she probably assumes there are no progressives.

  8. Bottom line is, she was always there – and some people made mileage out of making some other people think she wasn’t, and are now patting themselves on the back for accomplishing the fait accompli.

  9. Eli I’m interested to know whether she’ll put an amendment in, that clarifies in explicit language that illegal aliens… hence those here illegally will not have access to public healthcare, and that proper multiple forms of identification be given for primary (non emergency) care. Furthermore, I’m curious to see whether another amendment is drafted whereby, universal coverage is not achieved thru illegal alien amnesty, and that the language basically ensures that by explicitly denying coverage to anyone covered under any future illegal alien amnesty provision.

    Until such time as we ensure that illegal alien amnesty is not used as back door coverage for all,….

    Then I’ll support the Healthcare bill if it has a public option. But the public option shouldn’t be a get into the hospital free card for those flaunting our immigration laws, both the illegals themselves, and those working in a clandestine fashion to get them coverage.

  10. Ohh and Eli… if you or Golob could answer this question… I’m really curious why this hasn’t been tried yet..

    To lower insurance rates for individuals we need competition.

    The answer to more competition isn’t bigger Insurance companies. They just buy out the competition when its necessary. To get insurance costs under control is to “Prohibit” employer paid health insurance. You will see competition like never before when the insurance companies are trying to sign up individuals instead of taking the easy money from the large companies.

    You would get an increase in your pay and you could take the responsibility of providing health care insurance and shop for the coverage and price you want.

    Give the individuals the tax break on their 1040 as a deduction similar to their home interest deduction.

    You keep your insurance if you are laid off or change jobs.

    Create a Health Insurance Savings account similar to the Health Care Savings account to let individuals to fund a cushion if they lose their job to pay for their insurance premiums.
    Keeping the same insurance company reduces the problem with pre-existing conditions.

    Create a “risk insurance pool” similar to car insurance, requiring all insurance companies to cover high risk individuals, those with pre- existing conditions in a lottery type selection..

    Keep the 11 million who don’t have insurance and need it on Medicaid, instead of cutting the program. Medicare is deducted from each senior’s social security check, deduct Medicaid from the individuals public assistance check each month. Medicaid only cost 226 billion in 2008. Offer a Medicaid “part B” as a gap for coverage above what Medicaid covers. Similar to part B offered to cover the gap in coverage with Medicare. A part D drug program could work the same way.

    I almost forgot, prohibit paid health insurance for federal, state, county, city and municipal employees too. Increase their pay and let them shop for the best deal Congress and the President too. That should help increase competition.

    Mandatory open state borders for all insurance companies to do business. In instead of one “public option” we would get 60 major insurance companies and all of the other small insurance companies looking for our $$$.

    As a last resort break up the large insurance companies into regional competing insurance companies. Similar to the break up of North Western Bell years ago.

    Mandatory 10 years cleaning bed pans for health care fraud!!

    Seriously health care and insurance can be reformed or tweaked with out a public option if only the people we send to DC would take care of business instead of trying to hang the other party from the tallest tree.

    To lower healthcare costs by lowering insurance rates to doctors, hospitals, clinics, Tort reform is necessary and congress doesn’t want to touch it.

    Offer a “Patients comp” insurance policy to doctors, hospitals, etc. similar to Worker’s Comp. to eliminate frivolous and mega lawsuits by trial attorneys.

    Man was that simple, I should have thought of this months ago!

  11. I like this Ice Cream Leadership coming from Moon. She has a name brand at, like, an adoration level equaling Mr. Rogers, and it’s cool to see it going to a good cause.

  12. This is what liberals refuse to accept. Cantwell is not some chummy lady in business from your neighborhood. She’s a fucking millionaire corporate whore. She’s NOT like you and me. She’s a fucking millionaire. When you all attacked Bush for his tax cuts for the rich, Cantwell was getting those tax cuts. You are absolutely stupid if you think this millionaire bitch is going to “feel your pain.” That’s the magic of the Democratic Party: they can sodomize you without lube and make you think you’re being tickled.

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