Why do so many people seem to think the Public Option is a more moderate proposal?

[iwannaknow]

If anyone thinks adding the Public Option to the ACA is less threatening than Medicare For All, they might want to think again. If it had been acceptable to the insurance establishment, I believe it would have been implemented in 2010 after President Obama promised that feature as part of his insurance reform proposal, as did Hillary Clinton, if you recall.

But as we all know, the Public Option was unceremoniously dropped from consideration. Why? The answer is obvious. It threatened to drastically lower private insurance profits due to its delivering more for less. It may well have posed as much of an existential threat to the private insurance industry as Medicare for All, because in practice, it would have been virtually the same or close to it. It would have potentially caused a mass exodus from private insurance plans. Some voters might think that rehashing the Public Option is a safer, more modest proposal, but don't think for an instant that insurance companies won't do all they can to KILL any newly proposed public option. I believe the Republican reaction would be just as severe, and the deceptive, infuriating ads would be just as ubiquitous. Let's not kid ourselves.

With Medicare for All, there is still a role for private supplemental policies, as is the case under the current Medicare system. And there will always be people who want the more expensive policies and can afford them. In addition, Medicare for All is very popular with the general public, and therefore not seen as far-out, leftist or radical. That's a Republican talking point. If anything, a halfway solution could lead to reduced enthusiasm and lower voter turnout.

To quote Jim Hightower --

"There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead armadillos."

[msongs]

1. my recollection is that it was blocked by the vote of one alleged democrat nt

[farmbo]

5. True... Joe Lieberman sold us out

And he allowed the private insurance companies to continue to control pricing. No surprise, they continued ratcheting prices up while providing s#itty coverage.
His perfidy gave rise to the Tea Party movement and allowed the GOP re- take the House in 2010.

[pnwmom]

10. Joe Lieberman was an Independent when he prevented the public option.

He had left the Democratic party after he lost the primary -- and then ran as an Independent.

[pnwmom]

9. No. He was a former Democrat, a turncoat

who left the party when he lost his primary to a real Democrat.

Then, as an Independent, he won re-election and, as an Independent, withheld his vote from any version of the ACA with a public option.

[Cha]

2. I don't care what Jim Hightower has

to say about it.

Moderates were mostly responsible for our Democratic Victory in the BLUE WAVE2018..

We have room for everyone who's serious about beating trump.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Joe Biden is in Good Company!

Biden proposes massive new Obamacare subsidies, public option in health care plan

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287201979

Biden is in Good Company!

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Progressives Support Shoring Up ACA Before Tackling Medicare For All

Despite a large division in the Democratic party over the best health care solution ― single-payer or a continuation and possible expansion of something like Obamacare ― progressives in Congress appear to be in lockstep with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s priority of shoring up the ACA before tackling anything like Medicare for All.

“I’m happy to support any provision that strengthens the ACA and plug some of the gaps that we’re seeing, particularly as it’s under assault by the president,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told HuffPost on Wednesday. “I think it’s part of a longer-term vision, at least for me, towards guaranteeing ― truly guaranteeing ― health care for all Americans.”

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142293852#top

Looks like the House Progressives are with former VP Joe Biden

Here's Beto..

Link to tweet

Then there's BS's opposition..

Bernie Sanders opposes House bill to strengthen the Affordable Care Act.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/128739743#top

Link to tweet

[Zoonart]

3. Because you are proposing trashing a deeply embedded

Multi trillion dollar business that is woven into every workplace, doctor's office and hospital in this country and starting over. Healthcare corporations employ hundreds of thousands of workers. An entire bureaucratic structure would have to be created to mesh with Medicare and would involve massive retraining of the workers and the public.

Also...what happens to the stock market when these publicly traded companies go under?

I am a fan of SS and Medicare, but I don't know that our current government is
prepared for this.

[crazytown]

4. The Public Option died on January 19, 2010, the day Brown won the special MA election.

After that, McConnell had the 41 votes he needed to block reconciliation of the Senate and House ACA Bills.

[pnwmom]

12. Elizabeth Warren has said she could support a public option

as the next step toward achieving universal healthcare.

[NYMinute]

6. Because it is? nt

[wasupaloopa]

7. A public option added on to the ACA is the fastest way to get universal health care

coverage. Medicare care for all can not just appear and everything before it goes away. It would take years to put it in the place.

We need moderates and independents to beat trump. A public option is not threatening to them because they most likely won’t need it. It doesn’t turn them off like “government supplied health care.”

Most on the left can’t see the other side of the coin I think. That is that millions are happy with their private insurance. A public option is good for those who for some reason are left out of the private insurance market.

Also those calling for Medicare for all ignore the provider, reimbursement and facility issues. It’s as if we put in MCFA and the providers just have to adjust.

I was a controller of a medical clinic and many patiently s were on Medicare. It does not cover the cost of most procedures.

Many things have to be worked out before we can dump insurance based health care. If what you are really after is free health care, there is no such animal.

[Midnightwalk]

8. Risk management

I tried to explain yesterday but gave up. Too complicated. But it’s basically managing the risk of a big complex change.

No matter how well planned we’ll get parts of it wrong.

I don’t care so much what the insurance companies think. As you say they will fight any changes.

Who has to like buy in for it to succeed? Just the people who want it.

Who has to like medicare for all? The majority of people who will be forced off their employer plans. That’s a lot harder to acheive in the first release.

We can’t fix the entire healthcare system in one try. We will need multiple changes over multiple years. If the majority of the country, which is on employer plans, hates our changes we’ll be voted out and not get another chance for years.

Chickenshit? Maybe, but I want success especially in the first steps.

One concern I have on buy in is that it might be more expensive than thought if it attracts older unhealthier patients but maybe there are ways to handle that

I wasn’t a fan previously of medicare for everyone under 26, but that might be an interesting way to get the healthiest (cheapest) people covered first and gradually grow into medicare for all. Not just by them aging but by expanding to more age groups.

[pnwmom]

11. For the same reason that a set of 12 stairs requires a more moderate effort to climb

than a 12 foot tall wall.