Harry Reid and the public option
By John Amato Friday Oct 30, 2009 5:00amSo it may turn out that Harry Reid was the hero in the public option after all.
Much of the hoopla surrounding Reid's decision centers around a tense Thursday night meeting between President Obama and Senate health care principles--including Reid and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)--at the White House. But according to sources briefed on White House-Senate health care negotiations, things began boiling over earlier in the week, when a key question was, Who's going to take the blame when the public option doesn't make it in to the base health care bill?
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On the morning of the meeting, anonymous sources--and even some high profile senators--came forward to say that Reid was leaning very heavily toward backing the public option. And that's the news he and other senators brought to the White House that night.
"Reid actually asked Schumer to make the pitch," the first source said. When he did, "Obama was less than responsive and asked questions that suggested he preferred an option that could get the trigger and bipartisan support."
How the meeting ended remains unclear. But what we do know is that, early Friday morning--hours after the parties went their separate ways--Politico's Mike Allen reported that, according to a top administration official, Obama's preference was still for triggers, and he'd let the senators know that...read on
And mcjoan says that reconciliation may still be on the table after all.
This is the correct answer to the bleating of Joe Lieberman, and Blanche Lincoln, and Ben Nelson. If you don't want to be a part of the most critical domestic policy reform in generations, we can always do it without you.
"Sure, it's always an option," Reid said after leaving his press conference Monday, when he announced that he'd be pushing forward with a public health insurance option with an opt-out provision that would give states the right not to participate....
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who is in charge of corralling and counting votes, also said that reconciliation is still being considered. "The failsafe on this is reconciliation," Durbin said. "I hope we don't reach it because you can only do a limited amount of things on reconciliation."
Reid's comments were from Monday, before Joe put on his show, which could mean that Reid's now definitely put it on the table.
You know how much the Villagers hate this idea, so what that means to mean is it's awesome.
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It is still going to be big profits for the Health Insurance Mobsters.
No matter how the language is parsed.
HR 676, single payer, get the Wall Street Mafia out of health care.
HR 676 is twenty seven pages long and saves hundreds of billions, let the Republicans complain about that.
Since we know for a FACT that the Congressional Budget Office was ORDERED to score H.R. 676 pending the "historic" debate/vote in the House that Madam Speaker Pelosi PROMISED Rep. Weiner, whether or not that debate is allowed to happen, how about let's get on the band wagon to DEMAND A RELEASE OF THE RESULTS OF THAT SCORING ON SINGLE PAYER???
After all, the taxpayers funded the scoring.
Even if Pelosi reneges on her promise that H.R. 676 could have a full House debate/vote, Single Payer advocates have a right to know the results of the C.B.O. score.
Agree? Disagree?
Oh....and here's how "wonderful!!!" the Public Option is looking as of now:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?fil...
John, perhaps you would be so kind as to tell all of us what is so GREAT about the "public option" that Pelosi has trotted out???
It doesn't look too hot to me.
It's hardly great - but for me, personally; being un-insured and likely un-insurable without reform? Yeah, I'll take it.
Yeah, I'm that damn desperate. If I get seriously ill right now today, my options are:
1) Die. (... yeah I'm not doing that.)
2) Go bankrupt, and likely bankrupt my family too. And possibly still die. (... yay?)
I definitely would prefer single payer - I am NOT a fan of insurance companies, especially for things like healthcare which are simply too important to make 'for profit'.
But out of personal desperation, I'll take just about anything I can get, no matter how underwhelming.
There is also one ray of hope imo. IF we get a public option that's even halfway useful and it's administered decently (it doesn't exactly take much to beat an insurance company at this rate) - then with the exception of the ultra-rabid righties, you'll see more people trust the ability of government to administer such systems.
There are also, I'll add, countries who don't have single payer; but get a similar effect by hyper-regulating the industry and having a very strong public insurance option. So even if we never see true single payer, there are alternate ways out there.
Again, not saying I don't want it - I most definitely do; but I also think that we need to take what we can get, because what we can get may grow into something better.
It won't be perfect; but it's a start down the correct road, I think.
bills, apparently, must be several THOUSAND pages long in order to obfuscate.
as it ever was....same as it ever was....and you may ask yourself...my god...what have I done
in my best David Byrne move...)
!
Wanting to use it is the first step toward using it, but a little late, no?
And sad to see that Obama thought "bipartisanshit" was still more important.
In the end, we got a 2000 page doorstop to prop open the doors of big insurance companies.
Oh well, and my life goes on unchanged. Off to earn a buck so I can get my 40 ounce bottle of healthcare tonight...
Seriously, wtf is up with that?
Really?
Bi-partisanship?
After all the...?
We needed FDR and we got Jerry Ford.
shouldn't be this fucking hard.
It's not about doing what's right for US, it's about doing right for themselves & their corporate masters!
It is way too soon for triumphalism, even if it is never too soon for skepticism...
between skepticism and pessimism.
Constant pessimism is just negative projection. Being pessimistic without end is feeding some kind of monster or some kind of personal demon I don't recognize.
*brushes shoulder*
The final bill will probably be a big crap sandwich. And now that the Ethics Committee has awakened from its 8-year long slumber and appears to be targeting Democrats (gee, what a surprise!) any healthcare passed now will be rescinded when the Republicans take back the House & Senate in 2010/2012.
Keeping my powder dry until there is something coming out in final form.
The yo-yo effect is cause by a knee-jerk reaction to the minute details that are constantly shifting.
Obama said he will get a good bill and he is betting his second term on it. I wouldn't bet against him.
He isn't betting anything. NOTHING. He hasn't taken a risk since he quit smoking. He is a shoe in in 2012. Nothing can stop him.
Obama is a tool of the status quo and you know it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE
It is sooooooooooo hard to keep the corporations (in this case the insurance robber barons) who own you happy, while at the same time keeping the electorate happy enough that they will continue to vote for you.
... here in CT, MSNBC is displaying a commercial quite frequently, that states it's paid for by "Bio-pharmaceutical research companies".
It goes on to say Dodd & Lieberman are trying their best to secure a good Senate healthcare-bill... blah, blah, blah. It says call them and show support for this Senate bill.
Who the hell is behind "Bio-pharmaceutical research companies"? Is it some kind of [PILL-PAC]? ;p
PS. I have an en-easy feeling about that CBO rep. I've seen reporting to congress recently... this one. He seems to be a little too generous with his answers/opinions, often giving more of an answer then is required to simply answer the question presented to him. Then again, I maybe wrong and he is in "FACT" unbiased as he should be.?
http://www.brookings.edu/experts/elmendorfd.aspx
http://firedoglake.com/2008/02/13/the-hamilto...
Great
Brookings Institution :-/
You've made me feel good and bad at the same time. :-/
I think it's defined as jaded.
he went to Princeton and he appears to have (possibly) a compassionate demeanor, I will withhold judgement on him for now.
Of so many who said "There will be no public option" the "The public option is dead"
Now we have a public option but it aint good enough?
lolololo
Those who are preemptively disappointed will be disappointed by anything. It makes it hard to take the protestations seriously or the preemptive disappointment as sincere.
IMO
we have nothing right now and any public option included in the final, passed bill (if there is one) wouldn't begin for 5 years, would allow states to opt out altogether and probably be an inefficient, bureaucratic nightmare (just another vehicle for "insiders" to ripoff and enrich themselves off of).
It amazes me that some on our side are calling this future public option with an opt-out escape hatch a *victory*! The opt-out was a huge gift to the insurance industry.
Had the Dems banded together (along with the strong, vocal support of the President and WH) and passed single-payer universal healthcare they would probably remain in power for a very long time. Now, it looks like they may be taking a hike on the Appalachian Trail much sooner than expected.
maybe this was all a ploy to gain democratic strength by making the republicans look like they only care about industry donors.
If you think about it, besides a few hard nosed dems, most have waffled and never made a clear line in the sand drawn... not even the president. Let's face facts, lobbyists get what they want, they paid for these representatives and they will not lose their investment. I heard Weiner and Grayson even praising the bill because they know there's a time to sell the taxpayers. They'll pass "the beginning of meaningful health reform and the republicans never stood for the American people"... followed by some wishy-washy bill that benefits a few while not rocking the insurance groups and won't even take effect until their out of office... blah blah blah... strings attached to disclaimers.
The "news" will split their praises and their rants via opposing media factions and within a month of the final signing we'll be hearing about another balloon boy. Quickly forgotten until election time. and so ends the days of our lives... cue the organ music... and fade.
Sen. Sanders IS bringing single-payer to a vote.
It will fail - then we will move forward.
Stopping pre-existing conditions, recission and claim denial or dropping of coverage IS a victory.
The public option (such as it is) is a start towards single payer.
The same nattering naybobs of negativity bemoaned the LACK of as public option - now they bemoan other parts of the bill? I think they will bemoan anything that comes down the pike. So I don't usually bother even reading the complaints.
Sorry - no sale on my register!~
:)
:-)
with wall street as an example of this administrations resolve, you at least half to look at previous behavior. My glass may be half empty but i can still see the water... clearly!
This has taken since Theodor Roosevelt to get this far.
I can understand the disappointment. But to me, just making the ins industry cover pre existing is an accomplishment.
Of course this needs more. Of course this isn't enough.
But to get this past the party of No is an accomplishment.
I do think this needs to be implemented sooner.
But this is a start.
geez! they may have ended the pre-existing loophole Americans have died over... whoopty! It still hasn't happened and I believe another loophole will arise to counter it. The "too fat so you pay more" rule sounds like a money maker I'm sure they'll embrace.
WE VOTED FOR CHANGE WITH THE MAJIC NUMBER OF 60... and we didn't get what we asked for. This groundwell for change doesn't happen very often and with the push against acorn, don't look for the poorest of the poor to try to change a thing. The NO party should be out on their ass and the insurance companies who denied healthcare that resulted in them profiting while someone died should be prosecuted!
Hey, I'm all about looking at the bright side but we'd been had here folks!
I don't agree Handy. There is plenty to be sincerely disappointed about.
There always is - one just has to be realistic.
Politics is the art of compromise.
Nobody ever gets everything they want.
To pretend we could band together and pass single-payer is not being realistic.
a "pretend" election? There were reasons why the Dems were put back in total power. All three branches of government no less!Healthcare was a huge reason. As Obama clearly stated at the 2003 AFL-CIO Civil, Human and Women's Right conference:
"I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer, universal healthcare plan...that's what I'd like to see...but, as all of you know, we may not get there immediately because first - we gotta take back the White House and we gotta take back the Senate and we gotta take back the House.."
Hmmm....he must have been pretending back then. Oh well.
the dems version of "the contract with america"
maybe Sting was right, "they all seemed like gameshow hosts to me"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE
I've considered myself "Mr. Middle Class" my entire adult life. Married for 27 years (never divorced), own a home in the burbs that was right in the middle price wise for the area, own two cars, one paid off, I pay $160. month for the other. Two kids, both in college and both working part time while still at home, and between my wife and I, we earn $78K a year.
Always make too much for any savings albeit it college assistant for the girls, etc. but never enough for any tax breaks.
Looks like I'll continue to pay $11k a year for health insurance (which is more than my mortgage payments).
Dont get me wrong, I'm happy with where I'm at and we're healthy and employed, but it seems I can never catch a break.
I've always been penalized for doing the right thing while others who exhibit poor judgement are rewarded.
It seems this whole public option episode was never anything more than feel good legislation that helps few taxpayers while rewarding the lousy health insurance industry. Can't say I'm shocked. I've decided that if this ends up being smoke and mirror horseshit, I'm never voting again or wasting time writing to any representatives. My head can get placed in the sand and stay there until I die.
"You know how much the Villagers hate this idea, so what that means to mean is it's awesome."
What?
How does this article portray Reid as a hero?
"Reid actually asked Schumer to make the pitch,"
Heroic? Please.
"Obama was less than responsive and asked questions that suggested he preferred an option that could get the trigger and bipartisan support."
This appears to be the key sentence in this piece.
"...came forward to say that Reid was leaning very heavily toward backing the public option."
Heroic for doing what the majority of Americans DEMAND? Hardly.
for booby traps, trap doors, and trick endings.
like him or not, dr. dean always tells is like it is. he should be the 'czar' for health reform. he knows his stuff, and he takes no guff..... too bad the bs when he was running for pres. ruined his chance, even though it was an open mic that was heavily distorted, and if you see the original footage of that event it wasnt like anything the rightwing said about him.....
good man.
the decision to become a Politician.
I doubt he'll be able to "reform" himself.
In that Chris Christie ad, that's a "big" family. They barely all could fit on the screen. Republican fat cats in more ways than one.
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