The public option is far from all that is wrong with Obamacare. But it is a big chunk of the problem, and it looks like POTUS is ready to traverse a different course. From the story:
Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell POLITICO. Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said…
Well, that seems awfully passive. But apparently it means the president is ready to see that part of Obamacare go:
On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done. “We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition,” an aide said. “There are lots of different ways to get there.”
Of course, the where of the there remains crucial. But if Obama is truly going to give here and not play another Washington DC game of redefinition and smoke and mirrors, perhaps something can be crafted that expands access to health coverage without destroying Hippocratic values. We will also see whether the Left really wants to improve people’s ability to gain access to care or just win ideological battles.
September 2nd, 2009 | 9:59 am
[...] Physio Forum – Online physiotherapy discussion – http://www.physiobob.com/forum/|||Obamacare: It Looks Like an Obama Course Change on the Public …Of course, the where of the there remains crucial. But if Obama is truly going to give here and not [...]
September 2nd, 2009 | 12:20 pm
Wesley,
Your photo of USS Nimitz is certainly a dramatic illustration of a hard left turn. Off the topic, but a hard turn–in either direction–like that is only attempted during sea trials.
September 2nd, 2009 | 12:27 pm
James: I know. I liked the photo and couldn’t find one as dramatic as that one doing a “hard a starboard.” So, I used this one, although I would have preferred an image of a right turn.
September 2nd, 2009 | 9:54 pm
“We will also see whether the Left really wants to improve people’s ability to gain access to care or just win ideological battles.”
What about the Right, Wes? Why don’t the Republicans have any responsibility to fix our insanely distorted health coverage system? Eight years of the White House and Congress and they did nothing about this except a complicated and anti-competitive prescription drug plan. Now all they’re doing is being obstructionists.
If they don’t like the health bill, they need to grab a helmet and get in the game instead of carping from the sidelines and trying to create no-win situations.
September 3rd, 2009 | 12:55 am
NO CO-OP’S! A Little History Lesson
Young People. America needs your help.
More than two thirds of the American people want a single payer health care system. And if they cant have a single payer system 77% of all Americans want a strong government-run public option on day one (86% of democrats, 75% of independents, and 72% of republicans). Basically everyone.
According to a new AARP POLL: 86 percent of seniors want universal healthcare security for All, including 93% of Democrats, 87% of Independents, and 78% of Republicans. And 79% of seniors support creating a new strong Government-run public option plan, available immediately. Including 89% of Democrats, 80% of Independents, and 61% of Republicans, STUNNING!! Senator Max Baucus, You better come out of committee with a strong government-run public option available on day one.
The History:
Our last great economic catastrophe was called the Great Depression. Then as now it was caused by a reckless, and corrupt Republican administration and republican congress. FDR a Democrat, was then elected to save the nation and the American people from the unbridled GREED and profiteering, of the unregulated predatory self-interest of the banking industry and Wallstreet. Just like now.
FDR proposed a Government-run health insurance plan to go with Social Security. To assure all Americans high quality, easily accessible, affordable, National Healthcare security. Regardless of where you lived, worked, or your ability to pay. But the AMA riled against it. Using all manor of scare tactics, like Calling it SOCIALIZED MEDICINE!! :-0
So FDR established thousands of co-op’s around the country in rural America. And all of them failed. The biggest of these co-op organizations would become the grandfather of the predatory monster that all of you know today as the DISGRACEFUL GREED DRIVEN PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance industry. And the DISGRACEFUL GREED DRIVEN PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare industry.
This former co-op would grow so powerful that it would corrupt every aspect of healthcare delivery in America. Even corrupting the Government of the United States.
This former co-op’s name is BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD.
Do you see now why even the suggestion of co-op’s is ridiculous. It makes me so ANGRY! Co-op’s are not a substitute for a government-run public option.
They are trying to pull the wool over our eye’s again. Senators, if you don’t have the votes now, GET THEM! Or turn them over to us. WE WILL! DEAL WITH THEM. Why do you think we gave your party Control of the House, Control of the Senate, Control of the Whitehouse. The only option on the table that has any chance of fixing our healthcare crisis is a STRONG GOVERNMENT-RUN PUBLIC OPTION.
An insurance mandate and subsidies without a strong government-run public option choice available on day one, would be worse than the healthcare catastrophe we have now. The insurance, and healthcare industry have been very successful at exploiting the good hearts of the American people. But Congress and the president must not let that happen this time. House Progressives and members of the Tri-caucus must continue to hold firm on their demand for a strong Government-run public option.
A healthcare reform bill with mandates and subsidies but without a STRONG government-run public option choice on day one, would be much worse than NO healthcare reform at all. So you must be strong and KILL IT! if you have too. And let the chips fall where they may. You can do insurance reform without mandates, subsidies, or taxpayer expense.
Actually, no tax payer funds should be use to subsidize any private for profit insurance plans. So, NO TAX PAYER SUBSIDIES TO PRIVATE FOR PROFIT PLANS. Tax payer funds should only be used to subsidize the public plans. Healthcare reform should be 100% for the American people. Not another taxpayer bailout of the private for profit insurance industry, disguised as healthcare reform for the people.
God Bless You
Jacksmith — Working Class
Twitter search #welovetheNHS #NHS Check it out
(http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/why-markets-cant-cure-healthcare/)
Senator Bernie Sanders on healthcare (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSM8t_cLZgk&feature=player_embedded)
American HEROES!! :-) Click replay to play http://bit.ly/j31oU
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbWw23XwO5o) CYBER WARRIORS!! – TAKE THIS VIRAL
September 3rd, 2009 | 1:15 am
I have been saying that repeatedly here, padraig. First, the thing should not have been dropped in 1993 with Hillarycare. Clinton and Gingrich should have found a better way forward after the 94 elections, like they did on welfare reform.
Second, Bush should have done this instead of Social Security after his reelection. That was a huge mistake on his part.
Third, if this goes down, it should not be the end, but the beginning of making it so that people who have trouble getting insurance now have better access. Use vouchers. Use tax credits. Use tax policy to encourage community clinics in malls and the like. Cover catastrophic.
September 3rd, 2009 | 11:21 am
Wesley, there may be some analogy to Obama and Bush on health care and social security. I think Bush told the Congress to come up with something on Social Security after his second inaugural without laying out his own plan, just like Obama has.
I thought the lack of leadership on Social Security was the beginning of GWB’s undoing. I remember asking myself why he was doing that after all the other things that were fought so hard for in his campaign. It was clear he was abdicating leadership on that one. It cost him big.
September 3rd, 2009 | 1:09 pm
Beware the nose of the camel under the tent! The Democrat party strategy will be to get some kind of government health care plan passed, and then incrementally attach the “public option” and other controversial parts later. And, of course, the conservatives will proclaim victory and give up the battlefield to the enemy. The only option is to completely defeat the Obama takeover of medicine right now, forever.
Please, do not be fooled by this latest tactic.
September 3rd, 2009 | 4:46 pm
You have a good point, Padraig. For me, a tack to consider would be de-coupling insurance from employment. Employers started offering health insurance for employees because it’s tax-deductible. This has led to an insurance market that sells mostly to employers, who have pools of employees that get insured as a block. The market is based around group insurance, so trying to get insured as a single person is like visiting a vampire when you have an open wound on your neck.
Make an individual’s insurance purchase tax-deductible, and start looking at regulatory changes to the market to favor individuals buying their own coverage. Then the government could subsidize (via tax credit or voucher) poor people who could not afford their own insurance.
September 8th, 2009 | 2:44 pm
[...] Decision Giving Bureaucrats Say Over Extent of Care A Preview of Coming Attractions; Obamacare: It Looks Like an Obama Course Change on the Public Option …. [...]
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact