David Axelrod says President wants the Public Plan Option/Choice included in Health Care reform
By John Amato Sunday Jun 28, 2009 10:05amVisit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
I've been criticizing the president for not speaking out more forcibly that a a public plan MUST be included in health care reform. I know he's playing his cards tight to the vest so republicans have less to work with as they apply their usual attacks on any kind of meaningful health care reform, but I still don't like it. On Meet the Press, David Axelrod gave one of the strongest indications I've seen that President Obama firmly stands for a strong public option. He also called it "the Public Choice." I can't tell you how important the latest polling was on health care which told the politicians that America wants the government to be involved in fixing the health care system. Gregory used Howard Dean's statement on The Hill about America voting for change to get the segment rolling.(rough transcript)
Axelrod: We believe strongly in the public choice, not something ...what the President was saying was illogical were the same people saying that the government is incompetent, that the government can't run anything, that the government shouldn't be involved in anything, but we can't let that be involved in any of the choices because it'll be an unfair advantage against the insurance companies.
Gregory: When it comes to the public plan though, no ultimatums from the President?
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Axelrod: Well, the president believes strongly in a public choice, he's made that very, very clear. He's made that clear private and publicly and we're going to continue to do so.Gregory: But the president is not going to ram this through, his priorities through?
Axelrod: Well, I just told what the president's priorities were are and he won't sign a bill that does not meet those priorities.
Gregory: Can there be a successful outcome in the president's mind without a health care reform plan without a public plan?
Axelrod: I think the president wants a robust public option to compete against the private plans.
We're getting closer to finishing up our Blue America/Blanche Lincoln/Public Option ads as we fight to make Democratic politicians stand up for us and not the health insurance companies on health care reform. You can still donate here: Blue America's Campaign For Health Care
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Single payer, everyone in, no one left out, or get out of town!
Your phony public option will be just another swindle.
The insurance vipers will be sure to send the sick people to the public trough and maximize their profits.
and the insurance CEOs that the citizens aren't as radical as the far right who go out and kill women's health providers.
Is there ANYBODY who can explain exactly what "The Public Option" would do? What are the benefits, exactly? Who is eligible? How would it work?
I can't find any answers to these questions anywhere!
How can we be "for" something when we don't understand what in the heck it will provide or to whom and for how much? Are there "fines" if we don't sign up?
Too many questions and no answers.
You are on a computer, google it.
The google top hit is here
Platitudes you can believe in, but no details.
Krugman's essay on the Demoplan here (h/t NoBuddy) makes the assessment a 'public option' would be viewed by Big Health Insurance | Big Healthcare (they are not the same but they are both interested in maximum profits) as a stealth single payer.
Kathleen Sebelius swears up and down that there will never be a single payer system.
Paul Krugman wrote up a summary of the Demoplan back in 2007.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/w...
The devil are in the details, and I share the concerns of those who wonder whether the public option is anything more than a dumping ground for the chronically ill, and a windfall for insurance corporations.
The fiscally conservative approach is single-payer health care.
but don't worry Obama has it all figured out, he just can't explain how it works just yet...
How can there be any serious health care reform when Single-Payer has already been "taken off the table"? I expected so much more from Obama and his administration.
The exclusion of Single-Payer from the health care debate means that Americans have already lost the battle when it comes to fair and accessible health care for all. Here are a couple of good articles on the benefits of Single-Payer:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/16-4
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/singlepayer_faq.php
You are right, Alice. The Public Plan Option/Choice is nothing more than a scam.
Exactly right! A public-funded dumping ground, and even then with lousy terms that will make it essentially no different from the other corporate scams. But it enables Obama to proclaim what an "achievement" it will be, how he beat back the right, and how much progress we're making. Meanwhile, people will die from neglect at the same rate and be as sick as EVER!
Yep
Don't let them take the Public Option away.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrism70/3664710...
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I WANT CONGRESS-CARE
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Q U E S T I O N:
If Congress had to pay their medical expenses 'out-of-pocket'...
... 10:1 they'd be the first to fight to lower the costs of Big Pharma.
NO?
.
.
It isn't that I don't want Congress to have health care coverage...
... I just want them to have what I can afford for myself.
Did I mention that currently, I have no health care coverage but what I can afford to pay 'out-of-pocket'?
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I am paying significantly out-of-pocket.
I am sure the Senators care even less than the lobbyists.
"... I just want them to have what I can afford for myself."
This is an awful mentality...
You should realize healthcare is for profit just like any other service in this country. Thats like saying, I just want them to drive the same car as me or better yet why can't we all have the same million dollar houses as those in Congress, life is so unfair!
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that he'll sign any fucking piece of shit that gets to his desk.
He's GOT to have a VICTORAY!!! And he'll settle for anything that the legions of pros in the corpoRat state can spin to his advantage.
No program, no plan, that preserves for-profit 'health insurance' is any fucking kind of a victory for the people...
And what exactly is a "codswallop?"
nonsense. They are quite used to it over there by the way.
That would be a confrontation.
He hates him some con-fron-tation!
why can't these guys (Axelrod, et al) just speak clearly and forcefully without all the couching and dissembling? Can it really be that hard to do?
And what's wrong with Obama drawing clear "lines in the sand"? Bush and the Republicans certainly did for eight years. This is so frustrating and depressing to watch. With each passing day, I get closer to changing my party affiliation to Independent....jeez
they cannot affirmatively assert that Obama will "push through" a public option.
He's a negotiatior, our Barry. He might have to trade that away. And h'es always already ready to trade any principle for any shitty compromise.
proving you right.
doing they are on the big trough now.
say nothing while appearing to say something? And meaning it?
That question was nothing more than the typical BOGUS hypothetical antagonism that passes for "aggressive journalism" these days.
"Will you tell us, right now, on this program, Meet The Press starring David Gregory, that President Obama would stake the entire critical issue healthcare reform on this one point, that he won't budge? Please?"
Thank the DLC, DSCC and DCCC.
Obama is DLC/DSCC. worse, Obama LOOKS LIKE HE'S BEING HANDLED.. The public option is not the same as single-payer. Corporatists do not care who is not covered. They are the same as RepuglyKKKans in that regard. They simply do not openly express their disdain for the people.
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ben nelson was brought out. Since I'm not going to see fuxNoise, I'll trust your post and my guessing.
It's the only system that is both just and financially doable. A public option is only acceptable if it is used to prove that the insurance companies deserve no place at the table. The politicians need to realize that if they sell the public down the river on healthcare they will surely be committing political suicide. If they are counting on a nice cushy post-elected-office sinecure with the insurance, HMO and drug companies they are probably barking up the wrong tree. It's going to be inpossible to vote against the people without also giving clear proof to their corruption. When 80+% of Americans want a single payer system and are willing to pay for it, it doesn't leave many flimsy excuses from behind which corrupt politicians can hide.
If we don't get what we want this time around, there is nothing that these guys do that cannot be undone and set to right...once they have been kicked out of office by the voters and replaced with representatives with integrity.
To side with Democrats on the Public Option Bullshit.
You know it, I know it and the world knows it.
I just wish there was a leader at C&L who would fight for what is needed and right... not for the Democratic stinking Party.
Seriously? No snark here. Honest.
SCROLL THROUGH THE BLOG BEFORE YOU SPOUT YOUR SCHITT.
People need to be able afford Medical Products and Services without going bankrupt and destitute.
very clear that Grassely says there won't be a public option. He had a very difficult time trying to reframe Luntz's talking points. He was stammering and stuttering plus if you didn't notice, he was lying.
single-payer, government-sponsored health insurance is that it can be cost-effective and responsive to citizens BECAUSE everyone is included:
paying in and receiving care when needed.
The 'public option' they're trying to foist on us (if it passes) is useless. Most of those who are still employed and have subsidized health insurance will likely keep it - meaning that the public option will attract only those who are unemployed, have no access to insurance or have been denied coverage by insurance companies because of 'pre-existing conditions.' This greatly reduces the size 'pool' paying into the plan and greatly increases the risk that it will not be cost-effective - and ultimately fail (which is what I suspect the Congress critters have in mind).
I'm sure there's some actuary out there who can explain the risk /reward ratio to this dumb 'Public option' alternative. Single payer is the only way.
all of this much ado about nothing, the American people will be sold a new and improved "insurance" and nothing more. It's like your life insurance agent phoning you up with a new plan, better than your old plan. Problem is, the paperwork is meant for a lawyer to decipher. This healthcare reform is looking more and more like a bunch of garbage flung at the taxpayer's. Bottom line--this time you are bailing out the health insurance industry, instead of banks or Wall Street.
You pass a fucking law that says if you want to be an insurance company in America, you can't turn anyone down. You can't exempt pre-existing conditions and you can't reject payment for services approved by a board certified MD. Real simple. The rest of the argument is how much to pay, how much deductible and what kind of co-pay on the meds. Simple, done, over!
If you don't like the rules, pick up your ball and go play elsewhere. Good luck finding a country that will let you set up shop. This is the last one on the planet that puts insurance company profits before human life.
President
wants"will only issue the weakest of statements in hoping that" the Public Plan Option/Choice will be included in Health Care reform.Also refuses to rule out crossing his fingers.
Axelrod: Well, I just told what the president's priorities were are and he won't sign a bill that does not meet those priorities.
Sounds like as good a way to kill health care reform as any other.
Axelrod: Well, I just told what the president's priorities were are and he won't sign a bill that does not meet those priorities.
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