Re: Obama V: For Vendetta
So a public option will have cheap premiums? Not sure I see how folks on welfare or minimum wage jobs could afford to pay. If they're the only ones on the public option not sure I see how its self sustaining?
People on welfare or minumum wage jobs are most likely covered by Medicaid already. In essense they're already covered. If I understand the Prez correctly, the idea is to set up an exchange where non-covered people can shop for a policy offered by any insurance company willing to abide by certain parameters (can't deny for pre-existing conditions, etc). One of those "insurers" bidding for your business is a public plan. Since the really low income already have Medicaid, this is for people higher up on the scale.
More info:
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Attn: Glenn Beck viewers and others concerned about socialized medicine
The gulf between the paranoia of some on the right (government-sponsored euthanasia) and the reality of the Senate Finance Committee is vast (industry-friendly reform).
It may make good TV to highlight those who think that President Obama is leading the country on a path to Socialism, but I wonder if those out screaming at town halls even know who Max Baucus is.
If they did, they may not be so worried.
Well, at least the ones who are genuninely concerned about healthcare and not just venting about a president they loathe.
To the former, read David Kirkpatrick in today's Times:
The Finance Committee, for example, appears to be coalescing around the idea of nonprofit insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. It is a proposal the health care industry prefers, but many liberal Democrats oppose, in both cases because cooperatives are likely to have less leverage over health care prices.
Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, disputed that the administration had elevated the work of the Senate finance panel above the four other committees that have all approved strong government insurers.
“They are an important committee,” Mr. Emanuel said. “They have a bipartisan process. The president would like that to work, just as he is proud that the other committees have done their work. They don’t get an exalted status over everybody else.”
But he also acknowledged the political realities that have made the Finance Committee’s still-unfinished cooperative plan a center of attention.
“We have heard from both chambers that the House sees a public plan as essential for the final product, and the Senate believes it cannot pass it as constructed and a co-op is what they can do,” Mr. Emanuel said. “We are cognizant of that fact.”
Asked whether the president would accept the weaker co-op, Mr. Emanuel declined to comment. “I am not going to fast-forward the process,” he said.
Industry lobbyists and moderate Democrats in both chambers, though, argue that the White House’s actions behind the scenes show a recognition that the finance panel’s anticipated compromise is the most likely template for any final legislation.
“The House has largely been a sideshow,” said Representative Jim Cooper of Tennessee, a member of the so-called Blue Dog caucus of conservative Democrats. “The Senate Finance Committee is where it really matters. That’s the bottleneck.”
