Excellent graphic explaining various "public options"

[Teaser]

from the ever useful FiveThirtyEight.com

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/10/public-option-playing-field-in-two.html

[ZombieHorde]

1. What does the yellow line represent? nt

[NYC_SKP]

2. "The yellow triangle represents the sort of "Zone of Compromise"

The yellow triangle represents the sort of "Zone of Compromise". I'm pretty sure that a co-ops provision, with immediate implementation, could pass the Senate (or at least not be filibustered by it). Likewise with Olympia Snowe's trigger. A strong-ish opt-in amendment proposed by Maria Cantwell was approved by the Senate Finance Committee along party lines, but did not get Snowe's vote; it might or might not pass the full Senate.

Basically, any square that is overlapped by the triangle seems like a plausible outcome. The most robust public option available is probably a federally-run program that states would have the right to opt out of and which would have to negotiate its rates in the market. The worst-case scenario is probably state level programs with an extremely stingy trigger, as proposed by Snowe. (This is assuming, of course, that health care reform as a whole will pass, which people may be a little bit too sanguine about.)

This is not a perfect representation of the alternatives by any means. Co-ops and government-run programs are not necessarily mutually exclusive. A "loose" trigger could conceivably be more robust than an opt-in provision, or even an opt-out provision, although in practice Snowe's proposal is not. Moreover, state-level options and triggers could be combined in various ways: maybe states have to opt in initially, but they'd be enrolled automatically if a trigger kicks in. An final complication is is that certain of the options -- for instance, a state-run opt-out -- do not make particularly much sense. Still, it should provide a reasonably useful schematic.

from 538, the link in the OP.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/10/public-option-playing-field-in-two.html

[cliffordu]

3. I gotta say...

You're a lot smarter than you look.

Shorter in person, too.

[NYC_SKP]

6. Um, you forgot "sexay"...

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Triangulation? nt

[eridani]

4. Left off an important part

Namely that none will take effect until 2013. This is a political disaster in the making, which can be avoided only if a) the repubs keep acting like major asshats or 2) they get smart and allow at least some people to buy into Medicare right away.

[depakid]

5. Flip that triangle

tweak it a bit and Democrats might actually get to a win.

[TheCoxwain]

7. This is misleading ...The mistake you will make is to weight the different positions equally ..

If Cantwell/Conrad/Snowe are lone soldiers and everyone else is in with Rockefeller/Pelosi ... will the "Zone of Compromise" still look the same?