Just calling something “public” and an “Option” is not enough for me. I expect to have very robust public insurance available by the next election. Otherwise I will be a very angry elector.

I conceded as much as I was ever ready to when Single Payer was replaced by this Public Option. If the so-called public option includes the “level-playing field” provisions that prevent significant cost reductions, if it remains unavailable for years to come, and if it is not available to every American that wants to sign up, then Democratic incumbents will have failed to deliver.

Set up or not…Go Reed GO !

It’s gonna be fun to watch Chucky Boy Todd try to act like he knows anything. HA!

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/26/reid-the-public-option-wi_n_334284.html

Obama should’ve gone for the Single Payer from the getgo and work backward from that.

No shit. You’re preaching to the chior on that one.

But it’s October 2009, not November 2008. The Single Payer ship sailed. It frankly wasn’t a part of Obama’s campaign, so there was little expectation he would go that route.

On a scale of 1-100, with Single Payer being out beloved 100 and 0 being no bill at all… we were down around 5 in early August: it highly likely we were going to have a horrific giveaway bill simply to have a “win” and avoid that 0 of no bill.

After the Baucus Bill, which the White House was pefectly happy with, we might have been up to 15:

* The Baucus Bill was the 5 we were worried about, especially if it got further hammered to the right by amendments

* on the other hand, there was quick red flags raised about the worst elements of the bill, and it was clear that they wouldn’t survive conference

So the likely bill was perhaps a 15: not a good bill at all, with lots of giveaways in it.

We’re far from that now. I don’t know if we’re up to 50 as the likely result. But closer to that than even a month ago. If this passes, we have time to work to drift it further towards what the House is likely to come in with… which is already stronger than it looked in August when doom was setting in.

I don’t see how we can’t feel so positive about today. The Opt-Out is still a problem, and the Level Playing Field is one as well. But:

Opt-Out > Opt-In > No PO
Level Playing Field > No PO

Not where we want to be, but the change in the narrative for us this far. Work out asses off to get to the next step. And hopefully at that point we have the White House making the final push on as strong of a bill as we can get Nancy to push through.

John

I suspect Dems are genuinely starting to fret over their prospects in 2010 and 2012 if they don’t start to deliver on their campaign promises. The possibility that this reform bill might be accurately described in the next election cycle as just another corporate bailout like TARP will put them in a real bind. So I think they will be motivated to pass better legislation than what they have been willing to consider thus far.

They’ve painted themselves into a corner… To be seen as successful they have to pass health care reform. They have staked their reputations on it. But, if it turns out to be just another corporate handout at the public’s expense, they will get creamed at the polls.

Now we just have to focus their attention on better legislation. I think they may finally be ready to consider it, even if their pet lobbyists threaten to huff and puff and and scream at the top of their lungs. Let ‘em scream, in the end it is the voters who hold our Representatives’ and Senators’ fate in our hands.

It is a false equivalence.

I’ve asked others here but haven’t gotten a response. If this is constitutional, would that mean that if the beef industry successfully lobbied Congress and the White House to pass an individual mandate that every American had to purchase XX pounds of beef per year, would that be constitutional??? Cause it sure doesn’t seem like it to me, not when you’re forcing them to purchase something from another private entity. But IANAL, and it’s only my opinion, and YMMV.

I’m not saying I endorse the mandate, just offering up an argument for it. Fire away.