Harry Reid Backs the Public Option
By John Amato Friday Oct 02, 2009 7:00amHarry Reid told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the bill coming out of Congress will have a public option.
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today there will be a "public option" in whatever health insurance reform bill comes out of Congress.
"We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president's desk," Reid said in a conference call with constituents, referring to some kind of government plan.
."I believe the public option is so vitally important to create a level playing field and prevent the insurance companies from taking advantage of us," he said.
Reid also mentioned the inclusion of incentives for healthy behavior, something suggested by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.
What form of a public option is something we don't know.
dday runs down the various types of proposals that are out there in his post: What's In A Name?
Well, we'll know one way or another soon enough and although many are not optimistic about the chances of a vibrant public option the fact that Reid has injected it into the dialogue after he has been unwillingly to do so only helps our cause. And all the online activism done by the blogosphere and health-care groups has been essential or it never would have gotten this far. We will continue to push and fight and scratch and yell to save the bill from the grubby hands of the health-care industrial complex. You can count on it.
The Huffington Post updates Reid:
UPDATE: Reid's office clarifies his remarks in a statement sent over from an aide to the Senator.
"Sen. Reid believes that health insurance reform must include a mechanism to keep insurers honest, create competition and keep costs down," the statement reads. "He feels that the public option is the best way to do that. While we don't know exactly what that option will look like, Sen. Reid, working with President Obama, will ensure that whatever is included in the final bill does just that."
This seemed somewhat inevitable as Reid has largely resisted going out on a limb when it comes to the public option.
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In other words, Reid backs nothing.
We don't know what it will look like, but we know what it will do:
Nothing of real substance, but it has the words 'Public Option' in the section title and that will fool some of the people all of the time.
And together they will fool all of the people some of the time.
Well…
leave me out of that mix…
So almost all, at best.
If you're lookin' for me, I'm with Alice.
before his office denies he supports the Public Option.
Or hours for that matter.
on hours.
...in her latest post on FDL that Reid's the right man for the job.
Reid could not manage the night shift at a fast food joint. And that has been obvious for a few years now.
Is this is the political "intelligentsia" we have in this country, it all makes much more sense now. *weep*
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OK, *now* I'm worried.
I guess the wind was blowing out of the west when Harry held his finger up this morning. Tomorrow morning it might be blowing out of the east. We'll wait and see.
Seriously, I hope he means this and has seen the light.
if your wait for a politician to change your life you'll be waiting for eternity.
eternity issue Evet.
Harry Reid has now "mentioned" the public option because his constituents are putting his ass on the line.
The MAJORITY of the public wants this, and these assmonkeys in the Congress have been ignoring it.
you'd be astounded at how many people are "happy with their corporate health care plans" and "insurance plans".
they get sick and call in the coverage.
Surprise!!!
A very useful discussion on rescission math here
The House hearings on rescission, where the insurance companies cancel people's contracts showed that it happens to about 0.5%.
If that number were applied to the entire population it would 1.5 million people. That is how many people will know absolutely for sure that they have been screwed.
The number is even smaller since there are fifty million uninsured, they are screwed to begin with. There are twenty five million underinsured and they may find out sooner rather than later that they are screwed.
But if those rescinded go through arbitration they definitely won't get any justice there. If they go through a court it will take a long time. Either way they will probably be DEAD before they get anywhere.
They will also probably have filed for bankruptcy. 76% of the bankruptcy filings are people who started with health insurance.
snip
It is the very sick that the insurers dump.
This helps to explain why so few really understand how screwed this system is.
Excellent post Alice.
John, Alice(if she's interested) should be part of the C&L team writing for your blog.
"Atta boy " Harry , take a walk on the wild side you dare devil you !
Lou Reed shades and leather jacket whistling do do do do do do doo doo doo . .
He probably had a net strung beneath him and is wearing a parachute just in case.
talking to constituents: The final bill will have a public option.
after the WH gets wind: Well, golly, something or other, costs down, working with the prez. Bye, gotta go
The President is continues to blow up his mandate.
Why? Why? Why?
with getting Chicago the Olympics.
Hometown pride and political muscle, President Barack Obama lobbied Olympic leaders . . .
Oh so he's a Lobbyist now?
If the president can get a good public option in the bill and the games for Chicago, you are going to hear right wingers heads exploding all over this country.
... and it doesn't look too good for the public option.
In case you hadn't noticed, Chicago is in the US. What's good for Chicago is good for the US.
But you're probably right, better the Olympics are in Brazil.
.
working your way down thread.
dumped Harry Reid from further consideration at the same time the news broke about Chicago.
.
Like the recent bank reforms keep the banks honest.
Good to see these guys working so diligently on our behalf. You should have seen Jon Stewart roast Reid for claiming progress in the face of anything but.
He did that to Schumer too.
Oops I think that was the one PoP, thanks. He was detailing the Dem leadership's inability to get anything done pretty well.
Yeah, he was showing schumer saying how much progress they were making after just losing both votes. Schumer was grinning ear to ear right after having his ass handed to him.
Its that double speak that so many politicians have and I cannot trust a preson anymore that does not speak in real terms. We'd never catch Kucinich saying BS like that. Or Grayson.
If you f*cked up, admit it. Schumer's response was a testimony to the fact that there is no more accountability for ANYTHING at the highest levels of our government.
are ignoring the real news here.
"Reid also mentioned the inclusion of incentives for healthy behavior, something suggested by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev."
This means I either get to sleep with the help or get a big fat check for keeping my yap shut. Plus my teenage son will geta cushy job with the RSCC.
healthy behavior according to who Corporate America this should be funny.
I have real possibilities for getting rich if all I have to do is start living a more healthy life. For starters, I could stop paying attention to all the bs that goes on in DC. That alone would probably add at least five more years to my life.
The incentives for health are what scare me. people may not be able to be denied for a pre-existing condition anymore, but they may be penalized for being overwieght or consuming medical marijuana, or receiving a speeding ticket.
I'm worried about what level of involvement the government (and the private insurers!) will have in our personal choices. How many freedoms will we be losing?
should pay a price for their lifestyle choices. Note I do not consider any form of sexual behavior to be a choice, healthy or otherwise. Abstinence, however, is a choice and quite unhealthy.
... abstinence may not be a "choice" but a side effect.
I was picked up by the vice squad once for under age drinking on someone else's ID. Ya think they will deny me medical care?
I snuck into a strip club when I was 18. I was really young looking, (Caucasian) clean shaven, blond hair and no glasses. I used the ID of a guy that came with us that was Japanese, in his thirties, had a black beard and a mustache with thick glasses.
They let me in.
on the Today show.
Is the today show handling its' new Bush well?
dogs humping yesteerday.
Well, sex can provide a solid aerobic workout when done properly.
Not that Ensign would know anything about that.
is proper. We only know it is frequent and with different partners.
:'-(
IMHO
They already announced it?
:(
Oh shit, now Glenn Beck will crow about this for the next two weeks and blame the president's trip for the loss.
away from enriching corrupt Czars.
Madrid and Rio are the finalists.
the rest of the world not fearing America under Obama.
So fuck em.
beating.
Exactly, they had both barrels loaded to be prepared no matter the outcome.
start saying he will throw Valarie and Michelle under the bus, I'll go sip some delicious beverages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVA9qLBViPc
Yes, throw Valerie Jarrett, Michelle Obama and Oprah under the bus too. I just hope the Bo the dog isn't beck's next target. Martini would be heartbroken. Right now Martini is standing behind me and tossing all his toys at me to try to get my attention. Maybe he has some news for me from dog world.
Yeah, at least that. Then they'll move on to not wanting the olmpics to happen in a country that would elect a man from Kenya as their president. We'll all be worshiping the porcelain throne before this comes to an end.
At least it didn't go to Texas, Mexico, or France.
Or South Carolina
I'm with Blue Lensman now; Rio.
But it would have been pretty cool in Chicago...
Face it, we don't deserve the Olympics considering what we've done worldwide the past few years.
You have a point there. We haven't exactly put out the welcome mat for a while now.
I believe the Canadian Govt. is considering putting up a sign on the border saying :
ENTERING THE U.S.A.
ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK
we aren't real Americans anymore?
I think what he said was that we are all Kenyans now.
Kenya demanding that Obama show his Kenyan birth certificate.
Funny you should say that. I have a friend who is indeed an ancestor of Cecil Rhodes. She is anti Obama too. She's anti a lot of things, were it not for our love of nature and animals, we would have zero in common.
... was just making that exact point on the phone. The U.S. has bullied, defrauded and, um, killed a whole lot of people in the past decade or so.
Blame it on Bush. What about racism. Don't forget Texas.
That is, fiver, a joke. I agree with you. And I am for Rio, too.
Good one :)
And we still have armies where they have no legitimate right to be as well as multi-national corporations strangling economies world-wide on a daily basis. And then, of course there is Texas. While it does have some very redeeming qualities. It's still Texas... Ok, to heck with it, I'm blaming it all on Texas - just like when Fermi-Lab lost the super-collider.
no-fly list paranoia, we are more like Berlin c. 1936 or worse.
I'll have to check on that.
Anyone from the IOC who tried to fly in to visit Chicago probably flew back a "No."
... but the fact that the US has hosted 2 Olympic games recently: Atlanta and Salt Lake City, and they both sucked beyond belief.
I am pretty sure that none of the right wing BS peddlers who will gloat about the defeat of Chicago (as a proxy to stick it to Obama) will completely ignore that their precious base in the bible belt and mormonland left such a bad impression when they hosted the Olympics, that chances are that the Olympiads won't return to US soil in a long time.
That being said, go Madrid!
...be ignored. It certainly could effect a close vote.
with France?
Without them sailing in, albeit a little later than we wanted them to, we would have had a much more difficult time securing our independence from those meanies in England.
agruing with fiver over Texas and France. Mexico just got thrown into the mix for comparison.
fiver and I both conceded we were not trying to bash the French.
They just got caught in the crossfire.
... some more "Bash the French" rallies.
I'm particularly interested in those protesters who want to get rid of their French wines - especially those old dusty ones.
What's your problem with France? I doubt you've even ever been there.
...Back to the future.
arghhhh
It is like the Oscars.
Rio benefits because South America has never won before.
Madrid gets sympathy votes because they are still mourning the loss of
Franciso Franco. (Barcelona won out of sympathy for having lived through Franco).
Move on the newest thread, Ricky. It's way more fun.
.
is always the most visible lobbyist for the US. It's part of the job. They all do it in some form or another.
Why doesn't this surprise me?
"Sen. Reid believes that health insurance reform must include a mechanism to keep insurers honest, create competition and keep costs down"
How can any normal person refute that desire? We know why teabaggers refute it....health insurance has at a MINIMUM paid 50,000 liars to attend these parties.
Why not? Insurance is protecting their 20% take off our growing $2,500,000,000,000 health insurance scam! Meanwhile they laugh all the way to the bank -- denying coverage, encouraging disease over prevention, forcing someone into bankruptcy every 30 seconds.... It's an amazing racket. Problem is, millions are sick and dying needlessly, and we are 37th in world quality.
I really wonder what motivates anti-healthcare advocates who are NOT being paid by insurance? Why do they want the country to be milked by insurance so bad. Are they really just using this as an excuse to weaken the president himself for some reason? If I give teabaggers any benefit of the doubt it would have to be because they are simply trying to weaken the president, they could NOT be FOR corporation greed on this massive scale unless they were really really stupid.
coulda saved a lotta space...
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