Over the weekend, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said this about Congress, the public option, and health care reform:
Make no mistake about it, the president is for this strongly. There will be a public option in the final bill.
Which is more than Washington’s Democratic junior Senator, Maria Cantwell, has said. (Though it’s always possible that Schumer, like Cantwell, may be redefining the term “public option.”)
By “public option”
does Schumer mean
“government run taxpayer subsidized”?
Oh thank god. Of course, if it’s going to work just like Medicare then I’m effed anyway.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
I have one word for you, a word that has the power to shape this debate, a word that the big health-insurance companies don’t want you to hear…
Self-sustaining.
The foes of the public option keep harping on how it’s going to be taxpayer-subsidized. But the economic reality is, it doesn’t have to be. The foes of the public option keep harping on how it’s a backdoor to single payer, that it will use the unfair advantage of taxpayer subsidies to drive the insurers out of business. But the economic reality is, it doesn’t have to.
A federal public option is perfectly capable of competing with the private insurers without becoming a drain on the federal budget simply by pooling its resources, applying leverage, and operating in a regulated environment. Fair and square. The numbers add up for the public option to be self-sustaining, so why not craft the legislation to make it operate that way?
Actually, that’s just what Chuck Schumer has in mind:
So, by public option, do they mean a single payer national health care plan that receives as much of a taxpayer subsidy as the corporate welfare we give companies (not the job creating small firms) to provide health care?
(just thought I’d correct what you said)
Hi, I’m Maria Cantwell.
That Chuck Schumer is so big and fat and nasty. He’s not a cute Senator like me. I’m so cute and dumb. Look, I’m going to make my dumb face while I listen to you old people talk about Social Security.
…
See? See how I stretch my neck out and put on a puzzled dumb look like a cute Senator should. Then I make a little frown to make you think I care…but I really want to leave this ichy nursing home and get back to my super cute house.
By the way, the whole Senate is really yucky except for me.
I’d love to run in a race where I set the rules, enforce the rules, plan the course and don’t have to tell the other runners where the race starts or ends.
Bet I could win.
Yeah, this “single payer” government option should be very competetive.
Allow me to translate this from the senatorial-speak:
“We will make a big show of having a public option in the ‘final’ bill. We will then make an equally big show of shrugging our shoulders and passing the buck when the public option is mysteriously gutted when it goes to the reconciliation committee.”
@8 – probably.
But never underestimate President Obama. He’s playing poker and the MSM is still stuck in checkers mode.
Will @ 9:
Never underestimate Obama to do WHAT? Do you just assume that Obama is going to do what YOU want? Because he’s OBAMA?
I’ll believe it when it’s on Obama’s desk. Not before.
what has obama done in seven months?
They can state their support all they want. If the money and the pull isn’t there for the bill to get to Obama intact, it’s not much better than Medicare.
What we need to do is attack the health care issue not just from the insurance side, but from the practice side. The biggest drain is by charging people to medicate problems instead of treating them up front and preventing chronic, insurance-and-wallet sapping visits in the future. And this never minds the growing rate of medical malpractice across the board nationwide.