Haven't seen this come up in the OR blogosphere, although HuffingtonPost had a pretty up-front treatment of it and the Register Guard repeated the comments in a piece actually more about Ron Wyden--but while Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson discuss the new reform mashup bill to be unacceptable from the right, our own Jeff Merkley has some problems with the new deal, specifically the Medicare buy-in, from the left:
"The basic challenge for Oregon is that a program that expands Medicare using existing Medicare rates would be of very little use in our state," the senator told the Huffington Post. "And the reason why is because the reimbursement rates are so low in the state of Oregon that doctors aren't taking additional Medicare patients... They can fill their agenda and their schedules with higher-paying patients."
One of the leading young progressive voices in the party, Merkley would not discuss how the Medicare buy-in provision will ultimately affect his position on reform, saying he had to wait for more details before making up his mind. But his objections complicate the notion that Senate Democrats now stand on the doorstep of historic legislation. The Oregon Democrat said he is going to work to make sure his state and others aren't disadvantaged by the newest wave of health care reform compromises. Medicare expenditures by the federal government, he noted, are 25 percent more (per person) in California and 38 percent more (per person) in Florida than they are in Oregon.
"We must succeed in repairing this broken system. But it doesn't get repaired by creating a major program that does not help states like Oregon," Merkley said.
Merkley complained about other aspects of reform negotiations, adding that many questions remain unanswered. The senator said that he was "enormously frustrated" by the unwillingness of his party's more conservative members deal with its progressive members on a public option for insurance coverage.
Some interesting stuff in there. Let's talk about it a little, below the fold...
All three of the biggest state newspapers (The O, The Statesman-Journal and the Register-Guard) now have someone from their political unit writing blog entries for the online version of their respective outlets. David Steves of the R-G writes theirs, and I regret I haven't mention it before. Any time you have someone with experience reporting on the innards of state politics, offering up their analysis and commentary instead of straight news, it's a good thing for readers IMO.
Yesterday's "Capitol Notebook" featured a topic that has gotten plenty of play here at LO and over at (Not, We Promise) Merkley Central, Blue Oregon: the influence of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee:
It's common knowledge that Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who runs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, brought Oregon House Speaker Merkley back to D.C. last June to talk to him about running against Oregon's incumbent Republican Sen. Gordon Smith. That's about all DSCC spokesman Matt Miller will admit to. He refuses to confirm to Oregon reporters that Schumer recruited Merkley to run and that the DSCC is helping Merkley to defeat his Democratic rival, Portland activist and former federal lawyer Steve Novick.
Portlander and Novick backer Jules Auger ran into a group of young-professional types at a Portland sports bar last month when Merkley was traveling the state to kick off his campaign. After chatting one of them up, Auger says, he learned they were in Oregon as part of an advance team brought here by the DSCC.
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