White House public option ploy: A trial balloon, not a white flag
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Do you believe the Sunday spin on the White House’s alleged “retreat” from the Obamacare public option?
Video of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’s pooh-poohing of the public option provision is here.
Drudge illustrated the AP story with a white flag.
Politico says the White House has “backed away.”
I’m not buying the hype. Are you?
The real Obama is a declared proponent of single-payer and universal health care Trojan Horses. All else is political theater.
Late Sunday, the health care czar’s office said Sebelius “misspoke.”
It’s not a misstatement. It’s not a surrender flag. It’s a trial balloon to measure the potential nutroots backlash versus the potential Senate pick-ups.
Besides, the public option provision can always be stuffed back in via a 3am manager’s amendment or during the House/Senate conference to reconcile each chamber’s Obamacare bills.
As for Democrat Sen. Kent Conrad’s health care “co-op” idea, the devil — as always — is in the details.
Edmund Haislmaier pointed out a few weeks ago at The Foundry:
If by health care “co-op,” Congress means allowing private associations to collectively buy health insurance for their members or operate a health insurance exchange, or allowing people to buy health insurance from a non-profit, member-owned private insurer, then those would be positive, pro-consumer developments.
However, simply slapping the word “cooperative” onto a new “insurer,” but then specifying that the government — not the policyholders — picks the board of directors (as Sen. Schumer wants), or that taxpayers will subsidize it, or that it has to pay doctors and hospitals at Medicare rates, would just be an exercise in trying to disguise a “public plan.”
Distrust and verify.
***
Howard Dean on CBS this morning:
“It will pass with the public option,” he said, “and the president will sign it sometime in December.”
And from Michael Tanner at Cato: Co-ops: A ‘Public Option’ By Another Name
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Categories: Health care
Where is consideration given to the Constitution in all of this? It’s getting raped by progressive politicians and the Supreme Court will stand by and say nothing. We don’t have a Republic any more. We are ruled by an increasingly heavy handed Empire.
Well… if you’re thinking about aborting the Public Option… or anything or anyone else… Sebelius is a wicked good point
manbroad.I said it before and I’ll say it again. The only option here is no bill at all. Anything else will be corrupted in conference.
The serpent is still spitting the forked tongue searching, searching, searching for a way in to devour the whole.
With these people, you have to watch what they do and not what they say. The “co-op” may well just be a sneaky way to enact the public option by another name. As MM says, the devil is in the details.
If the serpent has made its way into your home and threatens your family and well being, what are you going to do?
Are you going to yell at it?
Serpents don’t hear.
Are you going to hold up signs or write letters to it?
Serpents don’t see well enough to read, even if they could.
Serpents need to be intimidated by masses larger than themselves. Masses too large to devour.
Absolutely. I can see the wonks now: “Let it slip we are giving up the core of our idea.. Then the fools will shut up..”
If Politicians didn’t automatically assume We the People were drooling idiots, they wouldn’t treat us as such.
A pig by any other name . . . is still a pig.
With a H/T to Jonah Goldberg at the NRO Corner, this seem an appropriate time to toss in this stupid pet trick: No Treats from Obama
On “co-ops…”
Tennessee Ernie Ford: “I owe my soul to the company sto’…”
Thank you so much for posting this. Awhile back, I thought I heard some proponents saying co ops were the same think as public option/eventual single payer. This comes as no surprise but it doesn’t make me less sick over it. Another round of phone calls and visits.
I wonder why, Oh why, republicans still seem to want to work with these people…especially after seeing what was actually IN THE BILL before. It’s not like the writers have magically changed. They have the same ideology and same desire for control. Unless, of course, these slimy repubs are part of the “collective” as well.
Time for a DC REBOOT!
On Fox Doocy just spoke about this and used the term “trial balloon”, must be reading you Michelle.
We have a man who wants to be Caesar.
Excellent post! I didn’t get to watch the Sunday shows but did see drudge’s white flag and thought: riiiight.
It’s the status quo for these guys- someone mistakenly forgot to poll-test ‘public option’ until it was already out there,
so when it didn’t pass muster they just change the name and the message.
The new message will be: “it’s a ‘co-op’ plan, what are you, anti- consumer? It gives consumers choices, but you don’t want that because you’re an insurance company stooge”.
Believe this administration at your own peril . . . it’s as crooked as a dog’s leg and as slick as a greased eel. Until this socialist healthcare aberration is kicked to the curb and completely destroyed, Obama and his merry band of socialists will ensure its rebirth over and over and over. Don’t accept the bones they throw because they are nothing but bait.
They will get what they can. When it doesn’t work, they will try to “fix it” by adding a little more control until they achieve all they desire. The Stateists are nothing if not patient.
No way they’re giving up so easily. Democrats don’t care what the people have to say. They just want to gain more power.
Even if they did drop the “public option”, what about all the other things in this bill? The panels that decide treatments, which insurance policies can be sold, the govt. people who go into homes to teach people how to raise their kids, the special treatments for SEIU, ACORN, etc?
That is still in the bill.
And all un-Constitutional.
Yes Michelle, you are right, I don’t trust Obama nor the Democrats at all.
I beleive that backing off of the public option is just a strategy to eventually get to their real goal of single payer government health care.
They will use trickery, deceit, manipulation and obfuscation to achieve their goals as always.
As usual, if they are honest about what they are planning, the public would oppose it.
We must not allow them to get their feet in the door with any type of health-care reform bill at all. Whatever they pass will just be a ruse to start them down the path to sneak in a single payer system, piece by piece.
http://garyganu.blogspot.com
This may be just incrementalism. They’ll pass something now just to declare victory. Then, after the 2010 elections, they’ll come back and say it’s not enough and try to get the public option in place.
And, this is the bill that Obama and Team wanted passed before the congressional recess? I would ask at this point to vote every encumbent out.
I wouldn’t breathe easy until these people are removed from office, forcefully if necessary. Congress and this administration are criminal enterprises.
What txvet2 said!
So, we are supposed to believe after 40+ years of trying to get government health-care, they are saying, never mind? I don’t think so.
One thing we all know about collectivists is that they never, ever give up. Ever! In this case they found out trying to go through the front door didn’t work. No biggie. They’ll try the side door next, then the back door, a window, the crawl space.
I would never trust these vermin.
Bull crap, it is a ploy to lessen opposition to
PublicCommunist option.I have to agree and think this latest move is a sham. Why would BO want to alienate Pelosi and the dem controlled House? Without the public option Congress looks foolish for the last two weeks “fighting” against the groundswell of opposition. Why would the WH leave them high and dry?
So the plan is now to turn Health Care into a 100% Pork work program. The likes of Acorn and other Left Special interest groups will now Morf into Heath Care CO-OPS. Billions of government taxes now will be place in their hands to drive “for-profit” insurance.
…and why hasn’t Pelosi spoke out about the latest WH directive? Its her bill they are “supposedly” changing…
I don’t believe the white flag, either.
Trust is not a word I use to describe the Obama Czardom.
This is just a diversion to try and calm the natives, who have been unusually restless lately. Like the rationing panels, it will be snuck in or added at a late date incrementally, just like SCHIP has ballooned into another huge boondoggle. Nobody should be lulled into apathy by this. Keep the pressure up and just say no until a real reform bill that includes reduction of govt. mandates and tort reform. Anything that does not include these points is smoke and mirrors.
The Democrat Party is a criminal enterprise.
The shelf life of Sebelius’ declaration was shorter than usual.
At the very least this announcement has the nutroots going bonkers. The posters at HuffPo range from apoplectic to trying to convince themselves it is just a ploy or the media is making to much of this. In any case their lockstep support for Obama and the Dems is breaking. Hopefully some will break out of their leftist stupor or at least stay home in 2010.
I’m not sure who decided that the “public option” was the line in the sand regarding acceptance of this health care bill. It was just one of hundreds of issues with the bill.
The overall vagueness of the bill leaves a lot of blanks to be filled in by bureaucrats, politicos, lawyers and judges with the ACLU nipping at their heels.
And until they address the friviolous, get rich the lottery way, malpractice suits, addressing a good portion of overall costs won’t be addressed.
There’s also the issue of illegal aliens being covered and the eventual addition of government funded abortion. The Democrats lost their credibility when they refused to add amendments prohibiting both.
I say dump this whole mess of a bill and we not buy a pig in a poke.
They’re reversing. Apparently the nutroots have made a big enough stink that they’re saying Sebelius “misspoke”.
I think it is clear the ‘Mainstream “wisdon”‘ and those who feel they have the hereditary right to disseminate this for the grubby dirty masses, have been left clueless and perhaps speechless by the furor over Obamacare.
Case in point the Sunday edition of the WaPo, which I usually buy only to purse through the comics and do the Sunday crossword, had an interesting piece attempting to explain the ‘whys’ of the Obamacare opposition. But instead if some serious self-reflection, my take on the tone was that it took the tone of an academic attempted to explain some odd natural phenomena.
Keep the following quote in mind whenever you listen or read anything by a liberal:
Sneaky b@st@rds. They’ll definitely try to rewrite this under a new name, and work in total amnesty in the process.
If you could stomach his lecture in Colorado, he actually stated that Medicare was a govt-run “non-profit”. We’re stretching the definition of non-profit here.
He seems to be setting us for a public “non-profit” option.
There are plenty of health insurance non-profit co-ops out there. We don’t a need a law to set up a massive one that’s funded by the government.
We need to change how private insurance is purchased. Stop the tax break on employers. Free interstate commerce in private insurance. Provide a tax credit to all Americans that buy their own insurance. Break the power of the individual state insurance commissions that set wildly varying levels of required coverage.
Sebelius and the One constantly say that this reform is all about choice. Well, then, do something about it. There are over 1,000 insurance providers out there. Free up the market so that they can compete for the dollars.
Yes, texvet2!! They are trying to get us to let our guard down. We have to kill this bill not just wound it.
I want no bill that has anything to do with government control of anything or requires any public funding of any kind. Any less is nothing more than another link in the chains of government enslavement. In other words, broaden the free market.
No. I’m not. Obama does not give up anything this easily. I agree that it’s a trial balloon…and not to see how the public reacts, because clearly the Democrats didn’t care for or like the protests or opposition.
Jet Jaguar, you know the Constitution was written by a bunch of right-wing extremists who believed in the power and good of the individual over the mismanagement of the state, right? I mean, come on! The Constitution actually says you can, like, say critical things about Obama and practice your religion in public – two things modern-day liberals abhor. So clearly the problem is not liberal ideology, but the Constitution, so one has to go. And since the Constitution is, to liberals, a piece of aged paper, guess who wins?
Just another bait and switch ruse!
The libs are playing opossum, smell like one too.
Precisely Michelle.
I watched Meet The Press; and the lemmings are in full throat. Two dems, Dashle, and arroagant no-nothing MSNBC mouthpiece Rachel Maddow were there to discuss Health care with 2 repubs/ (Since when is a biased liberal talking head qualified to discuss policy on this type of show with senators present and past?).
Dems had their talking points, and as always Daschle was puke-worthy, like a puny parrot regurgitataing the party line (fear mongering, angry town hall people, Obama being attacked as a Nazi yada yada). Charlie Rangel was piped in on a feed to reiterate the same talking points.
Featured by Gregory at the start of the show, were all those “bad” people carrying signs showing Obama as Hitler. Not a word was spoken about Pelosi comparing protesters to Nazi’s, or other demonizing of protesters. Dick Armey pointed this out to his credit. Maddow had her research on Dick Armey to personally attack him, a favorite lib tactic.
Honestly, watching dems in action is like watching 5th graders. Again, dems so justifiably count on the single digit IQ of their constituents to not see through this garbage. I dont think I heard a straight answer to even the softball questions posed to the libs.
Since “We the People” see through their “public option” disguise, they’re now searching for a new way to ram this idea up our buttocks. They just don’t get it!
This may be a stupid question, but I have to ask it:
Since obama swore on the bible to defend the Constitution of the United States, and since every move he’s made has been against that vow and against the Constitution itself, isn’t there legitimate grounds for impeachment?
Absolutely! All they really have to do is set en train the destruction of the current system. Later they can come with their solution.
One of the reasons I have been motivated to point out some of the stuff that is being misrepresented by the anti-Obama folks in regards to health care is because those misrepresentations are being used as a distraction in the same way a magician distracts an audience and uses sleight of hand to perform his magic.
Obama and the his health care folks are not stupid. To keep a close eye on what they are really doing means we must know how things work now, how our insurance works now, etc., so we can hear and see how Obama is playing to perceptions instead of reality.
Obama is not interested in stopping socialized medicine and single payer. He is interested in how he can get that done and we THINK he is stopping it. Perceptions not substance.
Suddenly backing away from single payer is a ploy. It means nothing.
As long as the current main bill is in play, as long as they are looking for a way to “get r done”, we are not safe.
They still don’t get it. We do not want government-run health care.
If healthcare costs have sky-rocketed, it’s because of Medicare and Medicaid, not private insurance.
The only reform that Congress needs to address for health care is tort reform.
Let me get this straight in my own head before it explodes…
We “need” a program that covers the poor people and those who cannot seem to afford healthcare. We have two incredibly large public programs, Medicare and Medicaid, that have been in place for more than 40 years to help the aged and the poor (citizens and legal immigrants).
Both of these programs are engaged in price fixing and limit the “evil” healthcare providers from making “obscene” profits on the backs of our neediest people.
So, if the government is the answer to save the healthcare systems in this country…why not expand the existing programs to cover those who are needy? Oh, right, these programs are so poorly designed and administered, they are just about bankrupt. The answer is obvious…by giving the government greater control and more money, the whole country will benefit. And by bankrupting existing insurers with (initially) cheaper options, there will be no competition to the government solution.
Sounds perfect to me…BOOOOOM!!!
Keep our eyes on the ball, they will come back with a co-op option or an exchange. The money needed to start up these entities will be tax payer monies. Once there is federal money involved it’s like a monkey on your back. Think of the bank’s and the auto companies. Control of this sector is the holy grail to these people they will not give up so easily. The answer to the health care “crisis” is tort reform and interstate commerce, any bill without these two components is a ruse.
“O”’s carrot/stick action. This is his see my right hand so you won’t look at my left hand maneuver!
Didn’t you learn anything from the Batman movies?
Never ever trust the Joker.
“We need to change how private insurance is purchased.”
I probably don’t disagree however I don’t think that is the bigger problem. The bigger problem is the public in general does not take the time to understand what health insurance is and how it works. It is a contract. The insurance company is bound by that contract. The only time people seem to pay any attention is when they hit a snag, as in something is not paid for by that contract, and then those folks complain to find out the insurance company has not done anything wrong.
People assume a great deal about what “insurance” is. One of the biggest problems in the mix of the need to reform insurance are those assumptions.
Its hard to fault the insurance company when they are simply following a contractual obligation. Not defending them. Just stating what the reality is.
If you sign a contract that gives the insurance company permission to decide if and when they can substitute brand name medications for generic AND then they do, you can get mad at the insurance company for following the contract but you won’t win the argument.
Secondly health care insurance cost and even standards of care that drive authorizations for medications and procedures are driven by local practices, or regional, and by local cost. An insurance policy for health care can be much cheaper in different parts of the country. That does not mean you can go to insurance company X in North Dakota and purchase insurance for the same price if you live in New York City. They’ll charge you what it cost for coverage in New York City.
If you say that health insurance cost should be stable across the country then in practice that is universal coverage that is not different than single payer and who is going to enforce such a thing?
Health insurance is a product. People rarely examine the details of that product yet they complain like bejeepers when based on their assumptions don’t get something, must pay for something out of their own pocket, etc. Its like people don’t bother to figure out you have to put gas in a new car and then get pissed at the car company when they run out of gas.
The first step in health insurance reform is consistent with our conservative ideology. An informed consumer having the power to make informed choices. That means people need to get informed. And in my experience when it comes to health insurance, people are not informed.
I was very struck by this lead sentence in the story Drudge is featuring on the Canadian system: The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country’s health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.
If Obama is able to get any kind of a major bill that seems to validate the government as having the primary responsibility for health care, then the more he breaks the system, the better it is (for his purposes).
The Dems would love to be able to say — like the Canadian doctors are saying — the whole system is broken and we have to redesign it. In fact, that is what Obama is trying to say now, but it isn’t working. So he’d love to break it a little more so that he can fix it. This is classic Marxist strategy, just as Rahm Emanuel has admitted: Never waste a good crisis. And they don’t mind in the least creating the crisis themselves, if necessary.
I don’t trust the weasels. Only a private, free market reform plan would be acceptable. Bait and switch is their middle name. Besides if they can lure a couple of Republican senators into supporting any bill, it will be overhauled in conference committee with the communist house.
Dean on TV this a.m.–said the bill will pass w/the public option in it…
but you know, he’s little crazy.
This looks like Rule 8 out of Alinsky’s list:
RULE 8: “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)
The problem with using any of Alinsky’s rules is first they were usually used against financial institutions or local governments. Institutions and governments have something to lose from it, that’s why these tactics were successful.
When you try to use these same tactics against individual Americans, it doesn’t work as we don’t have anything to lose except our freedom. You can’t blackmail us in losing our freedom as the majority of Americans are willing to fight to the death to keep our freedom.
This is why RULE 12: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it,” didn’t work against the public.
Distrust and veriFY
The public option was just one flaw in a very flawed proposal
Scrap this entire bill, work on medicare and medicaid to improve those existing programs
Obama was publicly outed when he gave his answer to “Joe the Plumber” during the election that he wanted redistribution of wealth.
What he is after now is a redistribution of health care. Take it away from those who have and give it to those who don’t letting the “haves” pay for it.
I’ve heard various liberals tout the current government run systems – Medicare, Medicaid and the Veteran’s Administration.
Medicare and Medicaid are in deep trouble financially and open to widespread abuse. The VA system is the health care system of last resort for veterans who have no health care coverage. Outside of their ability to hand out prescription drugs at little or no cost, most veteran’s would chose the commercial market if it was available to them for little or no cost
Being admitted to the VA system can be tantamount to a death sentence for many as the physicians that work for them usually are not of the highest caliber compared to the private sector – unless of course you’re only going in for some very minor problems.
He had his fingers crossed.
Ignatius–I’m also disturbed by something like that; why should the doctors need to develop a plan for something the government f@cked up?
I never put any credence of the “surrender” meme.
Remember, this has been the unholy grail of collectivism for at least the last seventy years.
Incrementalism is the great danger now. THE ONE, going apparently moderate, would be a VERY bad sign. It would indicate he is learning, adjusting, and moderating his ego for the sake of something bigger.
Another tactic for which to watch: we may see a welter of bills, designed to overwhelm the ability of anyone to read and analyze them all, being pumped out of both houses of Congress.
They have word-processors, and they know how to use them…
Obama and his minions say the outrage is manufactured, it’s not representative of the people, it’s a bunch of racists, it doesn’t mean anything, blah blah blah.
The question then is why would they alegedgly drop the public option?
If, as they say, all this outrage is made up and a large majority want the public option then why pretend to cave on the public option?
Another example of how pathetic Obama and the democrats are.
Pat Buchanan spoke on the McLaughlin Group about the elephant in the room of the health care debate:
Obama wants a socialist health care system that will provide the same level of service to everyone, even though it clearly means a reduced level of service for those who are managing their lives well and have good insurance. [My words, not PB's]
Presently, due to the lawlessness of our own government, we are all exposed to the risk — probability, even — of finding ourselves one day in an ER with an excruciatingly painful or even life-threatening condition and waiting hours for attention because the place is jammed with people — including illegal aliens – getting primary care or patched up from their Saturday night rowdiness.
I really doubt that Obama care will do much to fix the ER situation. What it will do is assure that people who pay for and are accustomed to otherwise good care now can wait in line behind the rabble for ~every~ procedure just as they do in the ER.
Good to know that everyone with a brain clued in immediately that “no public option” only would mean they were changing the name, not the method.
And what’s this thing the liberals are using right now when telling people that Medicare is socialism so what’s the beef? First and foremost, I (and millions of others) paid into Medicare for over 40 years – so if and when I actually get Medicare – I paid for it.
True, some of my paid Medicare money goes to pay for health care for others who did not pay into Medicare. Do I like it? No! Can I do anything about it? No!
Next, just because you have a little of something doesn’t mean it’s okay to increase it. A little bit of salt seasons food – it doesn’t mean a lot is better! AND, in the United States of America, Americans gets to decide how much salt they want.
I agree MM… Putting lipstick on the pig doesn’t alter the fact that you have a pig… These LIBS are just like rats… They are most dangerous when wounded or cornered… Right now all we have of them is cornered, so be very afraid…
He thought they said defeat the Constitution
Sort of reminds you of “Out Come Based Education” which has now been renamed because it has just a bad reputation for doing exactly that – bringing education down to the lowest common denominator in the class room.
iamsaved said graced the discussion with the following quote:
A fabulous quote! And the sentence that I bolded seems to me just as succinct and compelling an expression of the fundamental truth about socialism as it is possible to utter.
I can see it now…
White House staffer: “I know! Let’s keep the existing proposal and change the name to PuppyCare, because everyone loves a cute puppy.”
Jus’ sayin’…
There was a lib on O’Reilly on Friday night who was betting Laura Ingraham that the bill will pass. (I only watch O’Reilly when she’s on, can’t stand Mr. O).
This should scare the crap out of all of us. They don’t care what we think. They don’t care what we want. They are going to push this through.
For some reason they don’t seem to worried about the next election and how mad people are now. I scratch my head and wonder why. Could they believe that they are so powerful with ACORN and Chicago politics that they will never lose another election or maybe there won’t be anymore elections? There’s a floater in the punchbowl and no one in the media or the Repubic party seems concerned as they take a drink.
liars lie.
duh prez has himself between a rock and a hard spot in that the common middle of the road american is violently against this giant money waster which funds the illegal out of the funds of the chronicly ill and old. while the foaming at the mouth dem base always wanted this to increase their control and beaurocracy as well as getting 20 million more illegal alien votes to swell the ranks of chicago dead voters. he is now trying to wink wink lie about where he’s going to appease his base but shut up the tea party groups who are rattling the blue dogs.
Absolutely!
We need to back away from taking the bait and squabbling over the particulars and focus our (ridiculing) attack on the Dem effort to stampede the congress into action based on a completely chaotic, improvised, seat-of-the-pants approach.
We need to concede that there are problems but argue that they will become a disaster with this kind of middle-of-the-night, politically corrupt patch-up. We need to argue for “something next year” based on recommendations from a panel including people like Newt who will work in the sunshine to come up with a proposal.
We need also to emphasize the complete lack of tort reform in current proposals. It demonstrates the Dem cynicism on cost containment. They refuse to touch the biggest cost issue that something could bed done about.
The latest Dim talking point is “if there’s no ‘public option’ there will be no competition.”
How disingenuous. The Leftist aim is to have “no competition” in healthcare. Government control means “no other option.”
These people are so perverse.
No options, no compromises, no bill! Compromises is exactly why we have this crap going on now in congress…arm twisting and back room deals to sell out America and enhance individual legislators. These elitist bastards are to serve not dictate.
what we need out of D.C. is the limitations to be placed on the health care industry:
1. no insurance for illegal aliens(a foreigner, by definition)period.
2. allow interstate sale of health insurance… increases competition.
3. stop the mandatory coverage, if one needs a specific coverage then buy, don’t ask someone else to buy it for you.
4. TORT REFORM.
Don’t need no stinnnkin’ 1,000 plus page of government health care bill.
I agree completely with your comments about insurance companies following the constraints and provisions of the contracts that they have signed, jsmiddleton4 (#52).
I agree with the fact that costs vary, however, isn’t insurance a risk pool? As an insurer, I could certainly find a way to mix geographically disparate customers and provide a portfolio of coverage.
One of the problems with the individual market is that companies are forced to limit their pool to a single state. The particular states dictate what must be covered by insurance companies that sell in their states. This must be one of the reasons for cost disparities, aside from cost of living (which doesn’t have quite the dramatic impact that common sense says it must have.)
The reason I can’t go to buy a ND policy is really because it is against the law for a non-ND resident to buy one.
Unless, of course, I am a big company. Then I can negotiate a policy with any insurer and my employees can access that no matter where they work. And that actually demonstrates how it would work in the individual market. Spread the risk pool, spread the costs, even with stupid government intervention on what must be included in coverage.
I’m advocating a free market. That hardly implies a stable price across the country. I want private insurance companies to compete, not get locked in to deals with the Fortune 1000 and have a base of captive–uninformed–customers.
And here we are in complete agreement. I can only make an informed choice on a limited set of plans that are provided by my employer.
Most Americans are shielded from their healthcare costs. (And when they’re not, due to misunderstanding their policy, as you point out, they get all upset and demand these greedy companies be nationalized, basically.)
The best way to achieve that healthcare consumer intelligence is to break these state level private insurance cartels that government laws and regulations have created. Make people feel it. Make the insurance companies compete for healthcare dollars. Stop the ridiculous practice of tying healthcare insurance to having a corporate job.
Healthcare is important. Important enough to pay for. Important enough to try to live as well as possible (which means moderate to zero alcohol intake…
.)
If we free up the health insurance market–and tackle other reforms, such as tort law–costs will drop, people will be healthier, and we would actually have the money to provide healthcare for the those that truly have no way to take care of themselves.
rightisright…is right!
FROM:
http://townhall.com/blog/g/03d1d552-9218-45c2-8eae-693da61b76b7?comments=true&commentsSortDirection=Descending
Michael Tanner of the CATO Institute cautions that opponents of a government-run “public option” should not be fooled by this “compromise.” It’s suggested that these co-ops would be nonprofits, but many insurers are already classified as “nonprofit” companies–including “mutual” insurance companies and groups like Blue Cross. In addition, states already have the power to set up their own health care co-ops and a number already exist. So, if the “new co-ops” are to operate under the same rules as other nonprofit insurers, why bother?
Supporters of government-run health care have no intention of letting the co-ops be independent enterprises. In fact, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) makes it clear, for example, that the co-op’s officers and directors would be appointed by the president and Congress. He insists that there be a single national co-op. And Congress would set the rules under which it operates. As Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) says, “It’s got to be written in a way that accomplishes the objectives of a public option.”
If a “co-op” is run by the federal government under rules imposed by the federal government with funding provided by the federal government, that is government-run health insurance by another name.
Tanner is dead on. If that is a real alternative–that already exists–why bother?
Nice find, Lockstein13.
I agree with rightisright, too. The only thing I would add is: stop the health insurance premium tax break given to corporations and their employees. This will also increase competition and drive people to the individual market.
It would also either increase profits or increase salaries depending on what businesses did with all the money they spend on insurance.
Then, geez, I hate to say this, do what McCain suggested and give individuals and families a tax credit for health insurance. Let us have our own money, tax free, to buy our own coverage.
My sentiments exactly, can’t stand the fence sitting viewer pandering he does…nor his terrible social skills. One misses a lot of the good in the show because of his blathering.
That libturd on Friday almost had me throwing a shoe at the t.v. The smog arragant 1 line strategist. Laura didn’t meet his challenge with a snide remark maybe like…” if it passes it will be due to the fact the W.H. has intimidated, threatened, bought out and threaten to sell out the so called “blue dogs”. do not forget these blue dog’s are 1 dogs to start and 2nd they are liberals…who would /will sell their mother and father for a vote.
This is a very excellent alternative program from rightisright. I would add standarized, computerized medical records, which would lower costs and facilitate a free market. I also don’t see why drug companies should not be required to offer all drugs at one price to all buyers…no more of these cozy deals with this group or that. It is a distortion in the market, very unfair, and coerces people to make choices that they might otherwise not make. But I’m not an expert; in the end, I want the solutions that free up the marketplace.
Anyway, rightisright’s list clearly shows that there are very substantial things that can be done to achieve meaningful reform without turning this huge piece of our lives over to Washington.
We don’t ahve to be merely the party of “no.”
I was listening to the news this morning and an interesting observation was made – The Senate is supposedly removing this item from the Senate Bill, anyone seen that? It is the House Bill that has this provision, I have not heard anything about that at all. All this is just another ploy and once it gets in conference will be slipped back into whatever bill they want to pass. I am keeping my eyes wide open.
Another fine example of why health care is so expensive in America, the leader in health no matter how these libs want to parse it.
The drug price variance is nothing more than back room sweetheart deals…as always just follow the money.
Here’s another good take on this matter:
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/obama_wants_conservatives_to_declare_victory_on_health_care/
If this GDMF bill passes, may all employers become the property of John Galt.
Never mind “Get’er done”; hell: “Shut her down”!
The USA, that is.
Rule #13 id Pick a target & Freeze it not #12. Please see below I see this all the time and it is incorrect!
ALINKSY’S 13 RULES OF POWER TACTICS
In his book, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals, Alinsky recommended “power tactics” to solve the kinds of problems that organizers and stewards often encounter. “Tactics are those consciously deliberate acts by which human beings live with each other and deal with the world around them,” wrote Alinsky.
1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
2. Never go outside the experience of your people. It may result in confusion, fear and retreat.
3. Wherever possible go outside the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear and retreat.
4. Make the enemy live up to his/her own book of rules.
5. Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
8. Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.
9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.
11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.
12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it and polarize it.
For what its worth…a case study from the 1990’s.
In the early 90’s the gov’t forced HC providers to accept reimbursements on medicare/medicaid based on DRG’s (diagnostic related groups). The gov’t calculated a “fair” premium charge that they would be willing to pay based on an individual diagnosis. Each DRG has a specific standard of care with expectations…such as procedure, treatment, length of stay, etc. The amount the gov’t paid averaged around 20% to 30% under the “true” cost of providing the care. For example, the procedure costs $100, the gov’t was willing to $70. HC providers had two choices: close their doors or pass the cost on to private insurers. Some providers did close, others passed on the cost. So now private insurance carriers were paying $130 for the $100 procedure.
Then around mid 90’s the private insurance carriers went back to the providers (in most cases) and basically said what’s good for the gov’t is good for us and re-negotiated HC costs by DRG. This forced the providers to cut costs. At first, providers did this by cutting non-clinical services and employees. Eventually, they had to cut clinical specialities and closed medical units and hospital wings.
Gov’t forced the costs down, but services were also cut creating several voids in health care in areas of the country that were least able handle the cuts. The private insurance carriers then had to contract services to fill the void which negated any real cost savings to the system.
No conclusions here, just thought it was an interesting point. I can only imagine what will be cut by providers to meet any single-payer demands. Technology did help some back in the 90’s in reducing length of stays and less invasive surgey created quicker recovery, but the motivation to invent back then was supported by a healthy economy and a pro-capitalist gov’t.
just say’n.
That’s an image I can do without.
Howard Dean is actually right on this one and that is that THEY can not (and will not) do a health reform without the public option and Obama has no plans in doing so.
The difficulty lay in the fact that they didn’t get to ram the bill down our throat with the language that they had. So now, they will be more liberal like, and begin to change wording and work their way around getting the public option. It will be a slower path, but I believe the Obama admin is starting to see that the fast track is not quite where they are yet. While doing it slowly will require a longer period of time to enact all of their socialist programs, they will do what they have to do.
Obama is eliminating nothing but language. The goals will continue.
I have only read the first post here and already need to comment. I apologize if this is covered in subsequent posts.
The Constitution is our founding document and is what holds our union together. Obama put his hand on a Bible and took an oath to preserve and defend the Constitution, so help him God. Perhaps it didn’t mean anything to him, since it wasn’t a koran. At any rate, he is a traitor. Trashing the Constitution is a clear act of treason and anyone in his administration who does it should be put in prison for life…or worse.
By the way, I heard a commentor on one of the talk shows this weekend say…”Obama does NOT want to pull the plug on grandma. That is just silly. He just won’t allow her to be plugged in to start with!” I thought that was quite astute!
They keep arguing that the republicans haven’t offered a plan, so they should just shut up. That is a complete, total LIE. The republicans HAVE offered good, sound ideas. They are simply rejected out of hand. The libs do not want conservative ideas and so they just tell the public that none were offered. Most of the public will buy into the lie because the msm tell them what Obama wants them to hear. The republicans have suggested tort reform, just insuring those who don’t have it and leaving the rest of us alone, and many other good ideas. So, another liberal lie exposed. Many journatists, even on FOX are not addressing that issue very often. They should!
Yep. I believe this is absolutely true. I think Congress is going to go back into session, claim changes and wham bam thank you madam, it’s passed in the dark of night without any chance to object, call, email, protest. They’ve learned from their mistake of actually allowing people to read what they are proposing to pass. It won’t happen again.
OT
I posted this at Grouchy Conservative Pundits, but also used the contact at Hannity’s page to send this.
I will not listen to Hannity as long as he promotes ‘the New GM’ ie, Government Motors, owned by Obama, bought with our money, and run as a charity for the UAW.
“I switched off Hannity Friday (left work early) when he goes straight from talking to Grover Norquist to discussing the wonderful fuel economy of the new Chevy Volt.
He was a paid spokesperson for the old GM. I don’t care if it involves loss of ad revenue or even a buy-out on his contract, I will not listen to Hannity as long as he is pimping Government Motors.
Sadly, he is on opposite Michael Medved, right about 75% of the time, but infuritating wrong about 25%, things like John McCain and Amnesty.
And I’m working and taking/making phone calls when Limbaugh is on…”
They are like a thief walking around the cooridors of a hotel. If they canjsut find one unlocked door to use to slip in and start pillaging, they will.
Virtually everything they say is a lie or a misrepresentation. The classic this weekend was Nancy Sebelius’ comment that we need to public option to break up the monopoly. All of these provate secotr health care carrirers regulated by government are a monopoly?
Did the MSM jump her for that ludicrous remark? Of course not.
Looks like the Snitch Brigade is in hiding too:
I’m kind of disappointed. It’s almost seems like they don’t want to hear from me anymore!
Here is the formula we need to etch on the inside of our foreheads…
Fight this drive to control our lives until it is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD.
INSIST on a market-driven solution that gets the central government OUT of the business of health care, and health insurance.
“WE CAN’T AFFORD IT!!!!” is the winning message for our friends, families, and neighbors.
Most Republicans are religious, and not Gaia type religious, either. The ones who actually accept the idea of the US as a country based on Judeo-Christian morality and tradition.
In the Gospels, Jesus referred to Satan as “The Father of Lies”.
Not neccasarily the followers of the libs, well meaning but deceived by the propaganda, but the leaders, are almost to a person non-religious. When was Obama last in church for Sunday services? Does Rahm observe the Sabbath?
When your “god” is Marx, and your golden rules are “by any means necessary” and “do as thou whilst is the whole of the law”, well, it is no surprise Democrats will eagerly practice deception to get what they want.
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2009/08/16/thirty-degrees-below-zero/
Throw this at your fence-sitting buddies.
Merry Christmas you screaming idiot. While ol’ Dean is in politics at least he is not playing Dr. Kevorkian with sedatives and a plastic bag “with dignity”.