More: Despite Speaker Pelosi's public assurance that the House will pass a public option, so-called 'Blue Dog' Democrats in the House are working with the other side to produce a bill that does not include the capitalist heresy of government health insurance. One observer commented that the biggest impediment to real reform is the corruption of Congress. Blue Dogs are heavily dependent on special interest financing of their political campaigns according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The meetings between conservative Democrats and Repugnants have been in secret due to their potential for political repercussions. But Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN) confirmed to reporters that his colleagues in the 52 member conservative caucus are working on "co-op" alternatives to a public option plan. Other Demos mentioned as working to undercut their leadership are Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN).
Update: {6/16/09}Attack dog Carl Rove has gone on the offensive against the public option in an
editorial replaying the memes of conservative propaganda guru Frank Luntz.
US Person actually wants single payer health insurance because it makes the most economic and social sense. Call it "socialized medicine", if you will. The term is not a pejorative in my blog since the rest of the civilized western world already enjoys the benefits thereof. Most Americans, including me, are willing to compromise with the social Darwinists and just provide a government plan option among a constellation of private health insurance plans. But that's unacceptable to the
laissez faire die hardists, so they are fiercely attacking the progressive reform with myth making. Here are the leading lies and true facts about the public option
[1]:
- Lie: it's unnecessary since there are plenty of private plans available. Truth: Private insurers avoid competing with each other. 1 in 6 metropolitan areas are dominated by a single insurer according to a 2008 study of 300 US markets. The industry has experience a wave of consolidations with over 400 mergers in the last ten years;
- Lie: Proponents of private competition to provide the prescription drug benefit (Medicare Part D) claimed it would reduce costs. Truth: Kaiser Family Foundation has found that costs of Medicare Part D with private competition have significantly increased;
- Lie: A public plan would shift costs to Americans with private insurance since Medicare pays less. Truth: Public plans like Medicare increase efficiency of the health system because they pay for value, not volume;
- Lie: A public plan will lead to a "welfare state". Truth: There will be private insurance for those who want it for ideological or health reasons. Private insurers who offer a superior product over the generic government plan will be rewarded by consumers. Those private insurers who do not offer value will be at a competitive disadvantage. That is the way the market works, Carl.
- Lie: Americans will be forced to purchase a public plan eventually because the government will crater the private insurance market. Truth: Conservatives want a mandate for all Americans not eligible for Medicare to purchase health insurance, but are unwilling to allow a low cost plan for those who want a basic comprehensive policy because they cannot or choose not to afford higher prices in the private market. There are both KIAs and Cadillacs offered in the US car market. Not everyone drives a KIA.
- Lie: A public plan puts a bureaucrat between the patient and doctor. Truth: Private insurers already insert themselves into the doctor-patient relationship by deciding which treatments they will pay for in advance. Public plan proposals provide for incentives to private doctors patients choose for providing quality care of illnesses--not just symptoms, spending more time with their patients, and rewarding good health maintenance and preventive care.
So Carl your objections are not only nothing new--they were used in the sixties and seventies to stop reform--but they are not true either. By now even Joe the Non-Union Plumber understands the health care system is broken and needs to be fixed. A consensus among experts exists on
two crucial points: everybody must be insured, and costs must be controlled. 66% of Americans support Obama on this reform because it does both. The cost of health care reform will be large, but so are two wars and the Wall Street bailout. The cost of doing nothing will be nothing less than disastrous.
{6/16/09}Lacking the courage of their convictions and actual control of the Senate by one empty seat (Al Franken D-MN), Democrats are caving to lockstep Repugnant opposition to a public health care plan that will compete with private insurers. Congress members think that a public plan will mean the eventual demise of private health insurance in the United States because a majority of Americans will opt for the lower cost option especially if they are required to purchase health insurance to achieve universal coverage. According to one Repugant a bipartisan consensus exists for such a mandate. But politicos of both parties are extremely reluctant to tell private enterprise, which finance their campaigns, to take a hike by forcing it to compete with the federal government. Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, a conservative and potential stumbling block to a passing a public plan, said on CNN that the Senate would not pass a government run health option. He supports unspecified "health insurance cooperatives", perhaps reminiscent of the many grain elevator cooperatives that dot his sparsely populated state. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), senior minority member of the Senate Finance Committee is demanding that the government option be dropped.
Senator Ted Kennedy is still suffering from a brain tumor, but nevertheless has courageously drafted a bill that includes a government policy option as well as the administration's concept of "health exchanges" where consumers can purchase private insurance at group rates. If Democrats do not get serious about controlling the cost of health care in the US, it will eventually bankrupt the nation. As the director of the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office, Doug Elmendorf said, "We have had forty years without knowing clearly how we will pay for our heath care programs. Now we have to come to terms with it." Obama is known to want some bipartisan support for his health reform program since the health care system is 17% of the US economy. If he is to do the right thing for Americans, it may mean pushing through a plan without the nabobs of private enterprise on board.
[1]wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/06/11/rove-public-plan/