« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

Reid to Nutroots: ‘We’re Going To Have a Public Option’

By: Brian Simpson (Diary)  |  July 25th, 2010 at 11:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

It’s the bad idea that just won’t die: the public option.

Progressives have been pushing a government run “option” to private health insurance as some sort of panacea over the last few years. Their vision is that a government that has shown itself to be second to none in cost over-runs and bloat will somehow magically be able to operate more effectively and efficiently than private sector insurance. Their claims are that this will finally bring choice and competition to the insurance market.

Hogwash.

Conservatives won a minor victory (yes, it was a victory) when we got this stripped from the bill through public pressure. Despite that victory, the public option is not dead yet.

This weekend at Nutroots Netroots Nation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made his promise to the progressive activists and bloggers in attendance that they were going to get a public option passed.

“We’re going to have a public option,” Reid said. “It’s just a question of when.”

That “when” could be as soon as this year as Democrats wasted no time in reintroducing the public option as legislation.

It’s no secret that Progressives are playing the long game on health care. The failure of Obamacare will be used to push for the public option. When the public option fails (and it will), that failure will be used to push for single payer.

This is why Conservatives must begin to rally around free market solutions to health care. We must begin to swing the pendulum back in the direction of freedom.

Tags: , , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • ciscoguy

    Seems like they’ll have made our case for us of why Obamacare should be repealed – it’s just a matter of whether a new congress of R’s can get it to President DeMint’s desk in 2013. Better yet, I like Mark Levin’s idea of a single bill that repeals every single law Obama signed, but I know that will never happen.

    If repeal doesn’t happen in that time frame, will voters really forget that the reason their coverage is more expensive and crappier is because of Obamacare and sign on for a public option? I have to think no, but these same voters also thought they were getting a moderate in Obama.

    • Leopard1996

      Since they knew that they couldn’t get healthcare deform with a public option they decided that they would pass something that would do it’s best make it totally unprofitable for the insurance companies that they would beg and plead with the feds to bail them out, and just like the car industry, they would offer the bailout, but in return take over the industry and change the rules to benefit those that helped them. Same concept with health care, they would bail out the insurance companies, then force those companies either to shut down outright and make way for a public option, or use the insurance companies as a means to institute a public option.

  • taxpayer1234

    I wouldn’t doubt it if he tries to restore the public option in the lame duck session. That’s why he must LOSE!!! Go Sharron!

    • RealQuiet

      Mike Castle/Christine O’Donnell will be sworn in right away when they win in Delaware and that would put the GOP at 42. The only one you would have to really keep your eye on is Bob Bennett of Utah. That man might be quite bitter. Would he become Benedict Arnold? Probably not but I’ve seen bitter men do some spiteful things before.

      • trutexan

        After leaving the status of being a “dependent” then I joined the military and continued the free healthcare the government provides. The first thing they do is create a status. Active duty, dependents, retirees, then finally dependents of retirees…oh yeah and at the end of the line are the widows.

        Once you leave active service, try to get an appointment – go ahead, try. You have to call on the right day because they only open their books for the next month after the 15th. And once all those appointments are gone, too bad. You wait till next month. So I called the VA and it was even worse.

        They finally realized they don’t have enough healthcare providers for the population so they allowed us to go to the “outside”. Now try to find a provider who accepts Tri-Care. That in itself is a challange. Although, once I did, I nearly fell out of my chair when 1) they answered the phone; 2) they had available appointments; 3) they asked me when did I want to come in. Imagine that!

        If you are active duty, government care is a breeze. But if you are not, it’s a nightmare to get seen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about quality of care (although there are some stories out there), but I’m talking about access. It’s an absolute disaster. Those on the Hill talk about putting everyone into the same system they are in like TriCare. If you are “somebody” then of course you’ll get an appointment. Those clowns have their own clinics and healthcare providers – a system within the system if you will. But if you’re John Q, get in line and hope somebody answers the phone.

        • acat

          That would be the BIA, or Bureau of Indian Affairs system where the doctors work for about half a year because, after that, the money runs out….

          Here’s Captain Ed’s take on it from .. last year.

          http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/14/an-american-government-health-care-system-you-should-know/

          Mew

  • RealQuiet

    To in the end get hung by the Senate. Joe Lieberman won’t go for it and neither will any GOP member. I can just imagine those Dem incumbent congressmen in McCain, purple, and light blue districts telling Pelosi “You want us to take a tough vote again and trust the Senate to push it through? Are you INSANE??”

    • http://www.suvstrategery.blogspot.com SoFiMil

      and bring it to the floor this week? Obama recess appointed health care czar Donald Berwick to avoid debate on the issue. This may be the only way to focus attention back on health care.

  • drfrancisstocker

    The present law expands the number of person elibible for government care or a subsidized plan. It attempts to save by reducing Medicare expenditures, but in some areas there will be no doctors or hospitals to accept Medicare patients. The tests for low income which entitles one to free or a subsidized plan are dependant on income tax returns which omit a lot of underground income.
    It does a very poor job of controlling the so called “free market” health care insurers at least in some states.
    We need a national I.D. system as a first step to increase efficiency in health care information. It would also aide in detecting illegals if any governmental agency is interested in addressing that.
    When we start over, we need to start with the national I.D. An out of control illegal drug culture massively adds to the costs for trauma and neonatal care.

  • wannabeanncoulter

    If repeal doesn?t happen in that time frame, will voters really forget that the reason their coverage is more expensive and crappier is because of Obamacare and sign on for a public option?

    The thing is, private medical coverage (especially insurance via employers) has been becoming more expensive and crappier for at least two decades. I guess it depends how old you are. Gosh, I’m old enough to remember the days when employer-paid medical insurance was a given (truly!), there were no co-pays or deductibles, and very little paperwork.

    So I guess what I’m saying is that by the end of 2010, most non-Medicare, non-Mediciad Americans accept more expensive and crappier medical insurance coverage as a given (truly!) because it’s the well-established baseline.

    What that means for the public option, I have no idea.

  • JadedByPolitics

    I guess this idiot has truly been away from the people in State so long that he is blind to the FACT they don’t want Obamacare and they damn well don’t want a public option!

  • http://xmmlbchat.blogspot.com katesmith

    7/23, AP, “Starting later this year, the health care overhaul law requires insurers to accept children regardless of medical problems — a major early benefit of the complex legislation. Insurers are worried that parents will wait until kids get sick to sign them up, saddling the companies with unpredictable costs.

    Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida issues about 9,000 to 10,000 new policies a year that only cover children. Vice president Randy Kammer said the company’s experts calculated that guaranteeing coverage for children could raise premiums for other individual policy holders by as much as 20 percent.

    “We believe that the majority of people who would buy this policy were going to use it immediately, probably for high cost claims,” said Kammer. “Guaranteed issue means you could technically buy it on the way to the hospital.”" I agree it’s Cloward Piven, imagines medical doctors’ skills are equal to an office receptionist.

  • Adjoran

    Their problem is that their system is designed upside down, so it is closer to the business play of the South Park Underwear Gnomes:

    STEP 1; Collect underwear
    STEP 2: ???????
    STEP 3: Profit!!!

    The left’s level of understanding of economics is that simply everything they “know” is wrong.

    We should highlight this stuff, demonstrating that the Obama promise of getting to keep your doctor and coverage was but another lie, a ruse to mislead the public while they work toward their true goal of absolute control.

  • tapout

    I am an Emergency Physician, and what I see distubs me. If we are not able to repeal and replace the current Healthcare Bill, then there will be a public option eventually, it will just be a matter of how fast it happens. We are on almost exactly the same path Canada follwed as their private insurance market dried up and left only the Government option. Private Insurance cannot and will not be able to remain profitable facing government supported options. The framework has already been signed into law. All this B.S. about getting a Public Option now is about drumming up support for the midterm elections.

    Do not be fooled, the American Healthcare train has already jumped the rails to the Public Option tracks. Just ask Donald Berwick. It is coming if we don’t stop it and correct course.

  • tapout

    There are more MRI machines at the Mayo Clinic than in all of Canada.
    Is that our future?

  • fotophun

    http://www.flpundit.com/journal/2010/7/23/this-guy-is-my-hero.html