Harry Reid can't catch a break.
We're going to make you work™ for the irony in this one! If the machinations in Washington hurt your head, cheer up! Things could be worse. You could be that wan, phlegmatic, cipher of a Senator we call the Majority Leader. In this QB exclusive, we can now confirm that Harry Reid's problems are, indeed, all in his head. Unless your own brain can take a lot of abuse, you'll want to take your clicks in small doses -- or just go for the cumulative effect.
Students of politics and the human psyche will not be surprised to learn that Harry's problems started at home.
Reid's Real ID headache may be sooo last year, but it should have been a cautionary tale: If unfunded mandates don't cut it in Nevada, more imaginary money probably won't help.
Exacerbating Reid’s health care headache [more to come on that front!], 52% of Nevada says nada to government-run health care.
He's got a $30 Billion Nuclear Waste Storage Headache.
(Which is small potatoes when you see Harry's other headache: The $245 Billion Medicare Payment Fix To Buy Off The AMA)
Alas, a Nevada Supreme Court headache didn't stand in the way of his election last time around.
But QB is keeping hope alive! If Harry's Jobless-in-Nevada headache gets any worse, we're looking at a career on life support already. Yes, we went dumpster diving in a column on New England for that one.
Even Harry's own son gives Harry a headache:
In 2002, [Rory Reid] ran for a County Commission seat against the wishes of his father, who considered the chamber a political graveyard. Five years later, as Nevada prepared for its first-ever early presidential caucus, Reid gave his father a political headache by taking the chairmanship of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Sen. Reid had pledged to remain neutral in the contest — and his son’s endorsement risked being seen as a pass-through nod from the Senate majority leader. The move created problems for Sen. Reid in Washington, where he had to assure the three other Democratic senators in the race that he was, in fact, keeping his powder dry.
We're sure that real estate exposés don't help, but we're off to DC.
Ethics probes, especially in tough election years, are a headache!
New Jersey and Virginia get into the act. Let's hope that headache proves chronic.
Giant egos in the Senate are a headache! Who knew?
Lieberman's Defection Just The Beginning Of Reid's Headaches. We don't think so! We knew Harry was a carrier the first time we saw him at a podium.
Shoot, way back in January, it was hard to tell whether Dianne Feinstein was becoming "the conscience of the Senate" or Harry Reid's biggest headache. In logic, that's called a false dilemma.
There's the Roland Burris headache, and the Congressional Black Caucus Hangover.
Senator Specter is a multi-tasking migraine, a plague as a Republican, a plague as a Democrat. We're pleased to report, however, that it's a lose/lose propostion for Specter too: Another Headache for Specter as FEC Allows Refunds to Republicans
Et tu, Firedoglake? The Democracy headache.
We can stop any time. But then we'd have to ignore the pounding compound headache that is Healthcare.
Bernie Sanders of Vermont may be the headache that sends Reid and his 60 votes to sickbay.
Pelosi barely passes health care bill; Reid's headache gets worse!
There's the Public Option headache.
It will come as no surprise to QB readers that the public option is not Reid's only healthcare headache! We'll just note what an affliction Senator Dorgan can be. Ditto for the Stupak headache.
We know you've suffered enough at Congressional hands, so we'll just break it down to the essentials. We're not convinced that Landrieu will stay bought, are you?
Reid's 6 Biggest Headaches
Joe Lieberman, Conn.
Blanche Lincoln, Ark.
Mark Pryor, Ark.
Ben Nelson, Neb.
Evan Bayh, Ind.
Mary Landrieu, La.
That's what's known as a Cluster Headache:
A cluster headache is one of the most painful types of headache. A striking feature of cluster headache is that the attacks occur in cyclical patterns, or clusters — which gives the condition its name.
Bouts of frequent attacks — known as cluster periods — may last from weeks to months, usually followed by remission periods when the headache attacks stop completely. The pattern varies from one person to another, but most people have one or two cluster periods a year. During remission, no headaches occur for months, and sometimes even years.
Why did we go to the Mayo Clinic to get the scoop? Glad you asked! President Obama wants everybody going Mayo. He does not want you ending up in Texas:
The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, is famous for some of the best quality and some of the lowest cost. People are healthier coming out of there, they do great. And then you’ve got places — there’s a town in McAllen, Texas, where costs are actually a third higher than they are at Mayo, but the outcomes are worse.
He told Virtual Town Halls that, "People fly in from everywhere to go to Mayo Clinic to get treatment."
He told Greenbay:
[T]he key for us is to figure out, how do we take all the good ideas in the Mayo Clinic and spread them all across the country so that that becomes the dominant culture for providing health care?
Our thoughtful Prez even wrote a letter to the Senate: Harry, go to Mayo!
Oh, wait.....
If Obama’s feeling a little sick to his stomach this morning, blame the Mayo Clinic:
"Although there are some positive provisions in the current House Tri-Committee bill – including insurance for all and payment reform demonstration projects – the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite.
"In general, the proposals under discussion are not patient focused or results oriented. Lawmakers have failed to use a fundamental lever – a change in Medicare payment policy – to help drive necessary improvements in American health care. Unless legislators create payment systems that pay for good patient results at reasonable costs, the promise of transformation in American health care will wither. The real losers will be the citizens of the United States."
Mayo's CEO was trying to tell anybody who would listen that Medicare needed a best practices upgrade, back in July. Alas, nobody wanted his advice, after all.
"A Medicare model is a catastrophe,” he said. “Why don’t we give instructions to the Health and Human Services Secretary to start value-based purchasing right now in Medicare?” he said.
It looks like Harry's brilliant Medicare Expansion curative is about to turn into yet another blinding headache too. Thanks, Mayo!
Proposal Would Not Increase Access to Health Care Services or Control Costs
The current Medicare payment system is financially unsustainable. Any plan to expand Medicare, which is the government’s largest public plan, beyond its current scope does not solve the nation’s health care crisis, but compounds it. We need to fix Medicare by moving it to a system that pays for value – quality health outcomes that are affordable over time – and ensure its success, before bringing more people into a broken system.
Expanding this system to persons 55 to 64 years old would ultimately hurt patients by accelerating the financial ruin of hospitals and doctors across the country.
QB can't think of a better place for Harry to get his head examined, but since the Mayo model has been sucked into the Congressional black hole, we're thinking there are plenty of folks in Texas who are more than willing to put him in the hospital.