Private Dancers

by digby

Feel the bipartisan thrill up your leg (and hope like hell it isn’t an aneurysm because your chances of having good health care are diminishing as we speak):

Centrist House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are working together privately on healthcare reform.

The talks have been so secretive and politically sensitive that some members interviewed by The Hill refused to name other legislators involved in the bipartisan effort.

Members of the centrist GOP “Tuesday Group,” the New Democrat Coalition and the 52-member Blue Dog Coalition have been discussing both the policies and politics of moving their middle-of-the-road ideas in a body of Congress usually dominated by liberal or conservative ideology.

Those centrist factions are wary of the proposals their respective leaders will introduce this month. Blue Dogs are leery of the so-called public option in the healthcare reform bill that is expected to hit the House floor this summer. Meanwhile, GOP centrists opted to release their own healthcare plan a day before House GOP leaders are scheduled to unveil their reform package.

Noting that some members could be retaliated against by their leaders, some lawmakers declined to mention to whom they were talking. Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-Ohio) said that he wouldn’t “throw [Blue Dogs] under the bus” by revealing the identities of his Democratic colleagues.

They are so proud of their handiwork they are keeping their names secret. What are they afraid of exactly? The House leadership? Since when? I’m assuming they must be worried about the White House, which would really be good news if true.

The Tuesday Group bill contains a number of policies that are similar to those being discussed by Blue Dogs, including the option of forming insurance cooperatives. The coalition’s measure does not contain a government-run public option, an essential healthcare reform ingredient for liberals.

Like the Tuesday Group, Senate Democrats have publicly embraced the so-called co-op option, which calls for the formation of privately operated nonprofit health-insurance groups to administer a new healthcare system.

Castle confirmed that he has had talks with a number of conservative Democrats, including Rep. Ron Kind (Wis.).

Kind said that a number of conservative Democrats are working with Republicans but would name only Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) for fear of “getting the other members in trouble with leadership.”

Their goal is to find common ground on a number of the outstanding issues, Kind said, because the likelihood of the Senate passing healthcare reform is low.

Both Castle and Tiberi were part of a small group of Republicans that visited the White House earlier this year to discuss areas of compromise on healthcare reform with President Obama and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

According to Tiberi, the president and Emanuel said they want bipartisan support and “are open to new ideas.” The centrist GOP members said they told Obama and Emanuel that they have ideas but that Democratic leaders in the House won’t listen.

Boo hoo hoo.

It seems pretty clear that this silly co-op idea that Kent Conrad and the boys just “came up with” while sitting around shooting the shit one night a week or so ago is the latest fad among those who really don’t want to rock the Medical Industry boat. It means they can all pretend to vote for health care reform that forces everyone to buys insurance with the promise that prices will stay down. But, of course, that part of the “reform” won’t work, the insurance companies will get tens of millions of new customers, mostly through taxpayer subsidies, make huge profits and Republicans will run against the health care system saying that the Democrats failed to rein in costs.

I do not think the White House is this stupid. They know that the cost and efficiency element is essential and they know that this co-op kumbaaya, while a worthy idea in and of itself, will not accomplish that goal. This health care sausage is in grave danger of being poisoned with e coli conservatism if they don’t push back hard.

If you haven’t donated a couple of bucks to our campaign to persuade Senator Blanche Lincoln to vote for a quality public plan choice in health care reform, you can do so here. The campaign has been the number one “hot page” on Act Blue for two days now. Keep up the good work.

Update: Also be sure to sign up for Open Left’s innovative crowd sourcing initiative to get our Senator to get off the fence and on the record about what they specifically support in health care reform. And Change Congress got Ben Nelson to sputter and now is hitting Mary Landrieu where it hurts.

The netroots are coming at them from all angles. We’re going to try to keep this train on track…

.