Why the “Public Option” will not do the job

[dajoki]

http://s209363542.onlinehome.us/2009/07/26/why-the-public-option-will-not-do-the-job/

Why the “Public Option” will not do the job.

The theory seems to be that if we settle for a public option now that eventually this might evolve into a true single-payer national health care system somewhere down the road. I am not convinced and here’s why:

<1> Private health insurance imposes a $350 Billion dollar annual burden on our health care system by draining away precious resources for obscene corporate profits, huge CEO and executive salaries and bonuses in addition to the incredible expense and confusion caused by over thirteen hundred separate insurance companies most with their own individual set of forms, rules and procedures. True single payer will eventually eliminate these totally unnecessary expenses and save the system $3.5 Trillion dollars over ten years. The public option will have almost no effect whatever on this issue

<2> The theory of insurance tells us that the larger the risk pool the lower the cost to each member. It follows then that the greatest savings can only be realized when every potential member is covered under one single risk umbrella. Clearly this can only be achieved with single-payer health insurance which is the solution that so many other foreign countries have successfully turned to. The “public option” does not help much in this area either. In fact in some ways it has just the opposite effect by adding yet another slice, or separate risk pool, to the already badly divided pie thus keeping individual costs at a very high and possibly unsustainable level.

<3> As mentioned above, there are over 1300 competing private for-profit health insurance companies in the U.S. with almost as many individual administrative systems to go with them. Ask your doctor’s office manager what a nightmare it is to try to keep up with the enormous and costly confusion and complexity that this creates. Single-payer eliminates this problem completely while the “public option” does not even begin to address it. So we see that the “public option” does not even address the three major problems that health care reform is trying to deal with.

In fact, the “public option” could easily wind up becoming its own poison pill if it is allowed to become a dumping ground for all of the otherwise uninsurable high risk members that the private companies don’t want to take in because it would not be “profitable” for them to do so. This would drive the cost of maintaining the “public option” program through the roof and all but guarantee its ultimate failure. If this is allowed to happen it could potentially set the cause of true health care reform back a generation or more. This is a very real and dangerous possibility in the view of many unless the bill is carefully crafted to prevent it. Even so, the private companies will most certainly figure out a way to circumvent any rules designed to prevent that from happening the same way that they have circumvented so many other rules in the past designed to modify their behavior and protect the public interest.

It is also almost certain that the private for-profit health insurance companies and their “paid” servants in Congress will load down any “public option” bill with enough hidden poison pills to kill a heard of elephants and eventually we will just be right back to where we are today with no hope of any improvements to the system for many, many years to come.

Over 70% of the public and over 60% of doctors say that they want government managed national health insurance under a true single-payer system. WE must find a way to mobilize that voice in the limited time remaining. It is only the massive corruption in the Congress that is preventing us from achieving what most of us want. Now it is only WE who can do anything about it. Here’s how…

If you live in an area represented by a conservative Democratic senator or Blue Dog Democratic representative, you need to organize your like minded friends and neighbors and conduct a massive call-in and write-in campaign to let these people know what you think about their behavior. Sen. Baucus and others have taken huge contributions from the health care lobby and now are doing everything in their power to block true reform. You need to let them know tht you are aware of this and how you feel about it.

Problem Democratic Senators

Max Baucus (D-MT), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Bill Nelson (D-FL, Evan Bayh (D-IN)

Blue Dog Leadership Team (House)

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
Rep. Baron Hill (IN-09), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA-03), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
Rep. Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip

Blue Dog Members (House) Altmire, Jason (PA-04)
Arcuri, Mike (NY-24)
Baca, Joe (CA-43)
Barrow, John (GA-12)
Berry, Marion (AR-01)
Bishop, Sanford (GA-02)
Boren, Dan (OK-02)
Boswell, Leonard (IA-03)
Boyd, Allen (FL-02)
Bright, Bobby (AL-02)
Cardoza, Dennis (CA-18)
Carney, Christopher (PA-10)
Chandler, Ben (KY-06)
Childers, Travis (MS-01)
Cooper, Jim (TN-05)
Costa, Jim (CA-20)
Cuellar, Henry (TX-28)
Dahlkemper, Kathy (PA-03)
Davis, Lincoln (TN-04)
Donnelly, Joe (IN-02)
Ellsworth, Brad (IN-08)
Giffords, Gabrielle (AZ-08)
Gordon, Bart (TN-06)
Griffith, Parker (AL-05)
Harman, Jane (CA-36)
Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (SD)
Hill, Baron (IN-09)
Holden, Tim (PA-17)
Kratovil, Jr., Frank (MD-01)
McIntyre, Mike (NC-07)
Marshall, Jim (GA-03)
Matheson, Jim (UT-02)
Melancon, Charlie (LA-03)
Michaud, Mike (ME-02)
Minnick, Walt (ID-01)
Mitchell, Harry (AZ-05)
Moore, Dennis (KS-03)
Murphy, Patrick (PA-08)
Nye, Glenn (VA-02)
Peterson, Collin (MN-07)
Pomeroy, Earl (ND)
Ross, Mike (AR-04)
Salazar, John (CO-03)
Sanchez, Loretta (CA-47)
Schiff, Adam (CA-29)
Scott, David (GA-13)
Shuler, Heath (NC-11)
Space, Zack (OH-18)
Tanner, John (TN-08)
Taylor, Gene (MS-04)
Thompson, Mike (CA-01)
Wilson, Charles (OH-06)

[nightrain]

1. knr. Thank you for posting this.

[seafan]

2. This severely weakened public option will not work.

While the meltdown continues today on DU over Durbin's statements, this actually gives us a foot in the door to go for broke on single payer. NOW.

Pelosi has authorized an up or down vote in the House on HR 676 (Single Payer) as an alternative to bill 3200 (the Democratic leadership’s “public option” bill). This will happen at some point after they resume in September. The next 4 weeks are the window we have to go all out to push single payer at town halls, with our elected officials, with the media, with letters to the editor, with demonstrations.

The bottom line is that the so-called public option is so severely weakened in that it leaves the insurance companies in place at the top of the "health care food chain"; it leaves the insurance companies in control of setting rates; it guts the ability for a public option to operate at Medicare rates; it is doomed to fail because the public option debate is deeply fragmented and incoherent as the Blue Dogs growl and snap over it; the Congressional Budget Office is saying that the current public option plans as outlined will NOT cut costs and will NOT insure more than about 10 million people. The remaining uninsured would be *mandated* to buy *private insurance*, in some cases with a subsidy, that will flow directly to Big Insurance. And Big Insurance is standing right there, grinning and hold out their greedy palms for their *mandate* payoff as they seize these numbers of uninsured people. It's a win-win for Big Insurance. And it stinks.



I just posted this thread in GD, hoping that people will regroup from despair to see the window we now have for the next 4 weeks to push like HELL for single payer:



"Public option/insurance industry bailout": $1 trillion to insurance industry if public option fails


Single payer. Live it. Breathe it. Fight for it, and fight for it NOW, people.

[dajoki]

3. You are right on the money...

HR 676 is the only solution and we have our moment in history to get it done. If we don't, we will never see any change.

[dajoki]

4. kick