The public option is dead…as predicted in the media and now….it lives! Well, it is walking with a limp, but walking…the best question to ask is “can it be rehabilitated”?
I listened to the guys and gals step in front of the mic and tell us all about the “new” public option with the opt-out clause…..many of us that were listening are totally confused….what the hell are these people talking about?
The opt-out provision is a compromise between lawmakers who want a government alternative and those who don’t. Details of how it would work were still sketchy, but states would get a year after the 2013 phase-in of health-care legislation to decide whether to participate.
How the Plan Might Operate
Some details of a provision, to be included in the Senate bill, for the government to sell health insurance in competition with the private market:
Probably beginning in 2013, insurance-buying “exchanges” would be open to people buying coverage on their own and to small businesses. They could choose from private plans, or from the public one, which probably would be cheaper, since it would not need to turn a profit.
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.), who came up with the idea, proposed requiring that states
pass laws to exit the public plan.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20091027_Senate_bill_has_public_option.html
There you have your answer on how the plan could possibly work….satisfied? Or are you as confused as the rest of America? The best I can tell is that it will actually insure few of the uninsured……I still do not see the insurance industry losing in any way….costs will most likely shoot up before it is implemented……so, is this a good idea? It is a beginning…that is the best I can say right now…..
Nobody runs a business except to make the best profit they can. Nothing wrong with that, it’s how capitalism works. But THAT’s why some kind of public option is required as a “safety net” for things like healthcare.
The insurance industry will not lose – why would it? It almost never does – it’s really another form of banking anyway. In this case It will give the insirers the perfect opportunity to do what they do in the UK and “cherry-pick” – and why not? I’m not quite clear though – was that a criticism by you or simply a statement?
Which states, if any, decide to opt out and why could be its biggest problem. The decisions made on the means and conditions for that will probably be critical to the success or otherwise of the plan.
Good post! 🙂
Thanx for the atta boy….much appreciated…..the problem I have with this state thing is that most states have n Insurance Commissioner…..should they not be doing this already?
Of course they should. But then most governments seem to me to spend most of their time repeating previous legislation in a new form and trying vainly to fix its earlier failings by being ever more detailed and divisive. 👿
I have heard all the comments that say this is good because they can come back to it and do better….I say bullshit! I remember the War on Poverty of LBJ…it was a good thing and could have worked but every admin after LBJ has dismantled the programs til it has had NO effect on controlling poverty and the adverse effects…the same will be with health reform…