There should be health insurance choices offered to everyone

[joeycola]

Wyden's got kicked under the table just like single payer advocates.

and yes, choices should be open to all.


There should be health insurance choices offered to everyone

By Lanny Davis - 10/28/09 04:18 PM ET

I remain surprised at the almost total silence by liberals about a common, uncomfortable fact of all the plans Democrats have introduced in both houses: that so few people will have true choices in purchasing a health insurance plan, and if there is a public option, that more than 150 million insured workers will not have access to it.


Only three categories of people under any of the Democratic plans — the eligible uninsured, the self-employed and small businesses — will have access to state insurance exchanges, and therefore, if there is one, a public option. That is estimated to be about 25 million people or less.

And why is this the case? Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a strong supporter of a “level playing field” version of the public option, was asked on a Sunday talk show why so few people will have any access to the public exchanges or a public option. His answer was unclear — something about the public option leading to greater competition and a reduction of health insurance costs by employers.

Huh? How does that explain why 150 million insured workers shouldn’t have the same multiple choices for insurance as everyone else?
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For reasons that have never been fully explained, when Wyden introduced his Free Choice Amendment, which he wasn’t able to do until 1 a.m. on the morning after the day of the markup of Sen. Max Baucus’s (D-Mont.) Finance Committee bill, Baucus ruled it “out of order” and would not let a vote to occur. He was under the erroneous conclusion that Wyden’s proposal had not been “scored” by the Congressional Budget Office. In fact, it had — on Sept. 22, the CBO had issued a scoring that found Wyden’s Free Choice Amendment would have the effect of reducing the federal deficit by $1 billion over 10 years.

Assuming an honest mistake was made thwarting a vote on Wyden’s amendment, it is not too late for Senate leaders to include his proposal in the merged bill to be debated on the Senate floor — assuming there are 60 votes allowing that to happen — or at least allow Wyden to get an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

The only explanation I’ve read so far as to why Wyden’s proposal has received so little support is that, as Jay Stevens wrote on Oct. 7 in his Left in the West blog, “the proposal was doomed by the joint opposition of businesses and labor. Businesses didn’t like it because they lose control over their employees’ health benefits. Labor groups didn’t like it because they lose control over their members’ health benefits.”

If both business and labor don’t want their workers to have multiple choices for health insurance, then that may be one reason why this is a good idea. At the very least, Wyden’s Free Choice proposal should be debated and voted on, and not shunted aside as “out of order.” Who could disagree with that?

Source:
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/lanny-davis/65259-there-should-be-health-insurance-choices-offered-to-everyone

[saracat]

1. I am not surprised. This so called Public Option isn't about doing anything but attempting to make o...

"look good" while not genuinely jeopardizing their important money relationships.

[joeycola]

5. There will be a big huppla with a Rose Garden signing..

prob.not the rose garden as it will be too cold. but you get the jest.

[ProSense]

2. Lanny Davis? It figures.

Wyden's amendment sucks

[joeycola]

3. I think his point was to say open up the PO for ALL. The

Wyden amendment was just an example.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Feds get 5 to choose from. Most non-govt. folks get NO choice. nt

[FormerDittoHead]

6. Your choice WAS "take it or leave it". Now you don't even have THAT. You HAVE to take it!

>I remain surprised at the almost total silence by liberals about a common, uncomfortable fact of all the plans Democrats have introduced in both houses: that so few people will have true choices in purchasing a health insurance plan, and if there is a public option, that more than 150 million insured workers will not have access to it.

I suppose he's not reading the DU.