Rep. Weiner: Without The Public Option, The Bill Won't Pass
Anthony Weiner with Neil Cavuto on Fox News tells him the White House will lose 100 votes without a public option:
CAVUTO: So you’re saying if the president leaves the public option as just an option, not a drop-dead one, he’s gonna lose, essentially, the House.
WEINER: “Well frankly, right now, as the bill’s constructed, it would be an option for people to choose, no one would be forced into it.
What happens if you leave out the option? Where’s the competition, where’s the downward pressure on prices, and where is the thing that helps taxpayers, where’s the thing that helps small businesses? You need that, and it was part of the construct of the bill, and frankly the president’s been a couple of different places on it, but tonight we get to see what he has to say. And I think what he’s going to say is not only are we going to keep the public option in there, we’re going to make it a vigorous one so that consumers have a choice.
CAVUTO: But he has said, Congressman, while that’s something he would prefer personally, in the ABC interview, he said there are a number of ways you can get there, this is not necessarily “the” way. So what if he does something in the middle here? He’s a pragmatic fellow, he wants to get healthcare reform passed, and he says something to the effect, all right, to get the Anthony Weiners and all behind me, if the private insurance guys don’t do what I want them to do, or extract the savings I expect them to, then we do Weiner’s public option.
WEINER: Well frankly, the way the present public option kicks in is, what, ten years out? 2013 is Year One of the bill, then there’s a five-year grace period. But the fact of the matter is, we’ve tried the private insurance model and they’re providing unaffordable health care and 15,000 Americans lose their health care every single day. I don’t frankly see the argument for dropping the public option. All it is, is a choice. All it is, is competition.
CAVUTO: Well you know, the fear is that it’s not just an option, it’s a Trojan horse. That once in, the government just takes over everything.
WEINER: Yeah, I’ve heard that, and I’ve heard that a lot of places, and none more than here on Fox. Frankly, CBO say 4% of people would wind up getting in and I frankly think that’s not vigorous enough. I think we should cut out the bank shot and say the private insurance companies aren’t contributing enough. But that’s not where the president is.
CAVUTO: But Congressman, you could watch a lot more than just Fox to look at Medicare’s history to know, a program that started $65 million a year and that last year had a budget of $400 billion, and ended up with $5 trillion in benefits was substantially bigger than it was argued in its early stages.
WEINER: Yes, there’s no doubt about it that we have many more 65 years old and over and thankfully that we do, we have more people living longer. We have an actuarial problem.
CAVUTO: I think you’re pretty good at math, you would know that a growth from $65 million to $400 billion is substantial growth.
WEINER: We have an actuarial problem, and it’s a good one to have. That more and more people are living longer and that’s a good thing. But frankly…
CAVUTO: But it’s not all that. Right? I mean, it’s not just accounting for the people who are living longer and more of them. I mean, it’s government getting big and getting its nose under the tent and the fear that once it’s nose under the tent, it won’t leave.
WEINER: It’s the same bill that it was when it was created 44 years ago, and a lot of Americans like it for the service that it provides, but there’s no doubt about it…
CAVUTO: I know, I know, but let me finish that point. If you were to ask 44 years ago that this $65 million program would turn into a $400 billion monster handing out trillions in benefits way beyond the initial beneficiaries, would you, and would Americans, have signed onto it?
WEINER: We’re way beyond the original beneficiaries, but still you gotta be 65, and there are more people who are over 65, there’s no doubt about it. But the fact remains, the arc of cost for Medicare is actually lower than it is for private insurance plans, despite the fact they’re taking care of the most vulnerable population, 65 and over.
CAVUTO: But even when it comes to Medicare prescription drug benefits, something designed under the last president, it was a Republican, all of a sudden the original price tag on that has quintupled.
WEINER: Who’s running that program?
CAVUTO: Well, I’m just saying…
WEINER: Private pharmaceutical companies.
CAVUTO: It was dropped in your lap, though. It was a Medicare payment.
WEINER: No no no, that’s not fair. That’s not fair.
CAVUTO: All right, if you want to say it’s private insurance, I’m just telling you it is under the auspices of Medicare, your program.
WEINER: David, we made a huge mistake, and I voted against it, giving it to the pharmaceutical companies. We tried the private sector…
CAVUTO: How do we know you won’t repeat it?
WEINER: Because we’re not going to give it to them. The way you should do it is give it to someone like Medicare to administer directly.
CAVUTO: You trust government.
WEINER: You trust the private pharmaceutical companies that gave us a $733 billion donut hole.
CAVUTO: No no no, I’m not trusting anyone. I’ve yet to see an example, Congressman, where the savings you expect to be extracted because the government is in there has ever happened.
WEINER: You know the overhead rate of Medicare? Four percent.
CAVUTO: So you trust that you can get a savings from government.
WEINER: 44 years we’ve seen them do four percent, what it takes private insurance 30 percent to do.
Is a badass.
Note what it says: 'Govt-run care option'.
Not what it really is: 'Govt-run insurance option'.
I believe it was Fox's spiritual founder J. Goebbels who observed, if you tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth.
"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."
Lenin (1870 - 1924)
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
~ Joseph Goebbels
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
...is that beck, rush, o'reilly, etc. are really the one acting like nazis, not obama. jeez. i wish those jerks would just take all of their dirty money made with dirty lies, buy private islands, and retire - silent forever.
.
Glenn Beck.
I have thought for some time that the risk to many GOPhers by obstructing is scaring them. If they stop healthcare and the costs double AGAIN - they will have hell to pay from even their own rank and file.
Either way - no reason to pass anything without the minimum (public option)
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
THE BILL THAT THE REPUGS WANT
BUT THAT THE DEMS WILL PAY THE PRICE FOR -
FROM THE LEFT BECAUSE THE (R)EMOCRATS FUCKED IT UP
and
FROM THE RIGHT, BECAUSE THEY HATE ALL THINGS DEMOCRATIC.
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
Disingenuous Niel. "I'm not good at math."
He was an anchor at the CNBC business channel for many years before coming to FOX.
What a liar on so many levels.
For example, Maria Bartiromo thinks that 44 is greater than or equal to 65.
.
and they show it at every opportunity.
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
It is not as if the anchors at CNBC have even the slightest idea what they are talking about, especially something as "complex" as math.
Heck, most economists are frustrated mathematicians.
So maybe it is one of the 2 times in his life where Mr. Cabuto has told the truth.
Tell you what it was a very different network 10 years ago. Now you couldn't pay me to watch it. but it was different, less political, more professional and sometimes entertaining.
That guy Ted and some of the remarks he made to Sue Herrara were hilarious. I think he may have gotten fired.
... but honestly, I don't think the people at CNBC knew what the heck were talking about 10 years ago either. Sure they were less strident than the current crop of econo-boobs. But I still remember their trading shows being completely clueless as the bubble was imploding in 2000.
Never been too impressed with the MBAdroid types nor economists for that matter (although to their credit, at least they have to master more than basic math)
CAVUTO:Medicare is expensive.
WEINER:private insurance is more expensive.
CAVUTO:Yes but Medicare is still expensive and that's not good.
WEINER:Right.But private insurance is more expensive,and that's worse.
CAVUTO:fuck you.
WEINER:blow me cock jaws.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
you should write more transcripts
*wink*
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
:<[)
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
CAVUTO: I know you are, but what am I?
i second curtilingus - you should write more transcripts. Not word-for-word accurate, but got the spirit of the exchange.
Than mine.
A former award-winning journalist and lifelong class warrior, keeping a jaundiced eye on the Washington elite.
Just listen to how stridently Cavuto tries to basically shout down a Congressman who is trying to explain a sensible, cost-effective program intended to benefit all Americans. Is there any doubt about whose side Cavuto is on? This is the "fair and balanced" Fox network?
Cavuto. More great rhetorical skills. "You hate insurance companies." Why do you hate insurance companies?
where there's 15.9% unemployment, Blue Shield is raising it's premiums by 29%. Out here in California where we have 12% unemployment, insurance co's are busily upping their rates.
As Tim Russert's father used to say, "What a country!"
but yeah, what does that actually mean now!?!?
It's hard to suss that out because we who want the public option are blinded by our fetishism. At least that's what Chuck Todd says of us Public Option promoters. We're just jackin' it!
"By words the mind is winged." - Aristophanes
but don't raise taxes during a recession. the for-profit people don't care about the collateral damage they're causing. it's every person for themselves.
"Well you know, the fear is that it’s not just an option, it’s a Trojan horse." Scripted, neo-con/neo-liberal fear-mongering. Tell this jerk-off to read some of the literature on international comparisons of the quality of health care. Of course, processing the information to conform to his innate loathing of the well-being of his fellow citizens will move him to fall back on Republican talking points:
http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/m...
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/...
"Secular humanism -- a fearless, realistic world view replete with doubt and scepticism that attempts to attain an unachievable state of equilibrium between and among the human qualities of reason, intuition, imagination, memory, ethics and common sense.
(bigtime)on the boomers.
Like every other inflate and loot bubble ever created. You all know the ending.
I love this guy! He doesn't let Cavuto frame the issue with the label of "big government." Instead he keeps the issue focused on health care itself and the fact that 96% of people like how Medicare is run. Weiner reminds Cavuto (who of course ignores it) that 30 % profits/overhead gets sucked into the pockets of private insurers in private health care plans. No wonder they want to defeat health care reform and are paying millions and millions of dollars to buy our elected "representatives" who are supposed to be acting on our behalf, not theirs.
should be - representing the people, not their pocketbooks.
So refreshing to hear him speak after Obama. I know what I'm hearing is completely truthful, straightforward, caring and real. Unlike Obama, dissembling, indirect, vague and evasive to the point of dishonesty, says one thing to gain the people's support while doing the opposite behind their backs. Case in point - "says" he is for the public option in his speech last night, while today he meets with conservative Democrats to effectively kill the public option by agreeing to a trigger. Everyone leaves the meeting with smirky, self-satisfied grins. What as*es. You just know you would never see Weiner with that smirky grin on his face, because you know he's not lining his pockets at the people's expense.
Mr. Weiner, PLEASE run for president in 2012!!
circumstances, thanks to his killing the public option (while pretending he's for it). There are many many progressives who saying the same thing. PLEASE Mr Weiner, considering running. The country desperately needs to be turned around and can only be by the likes of someone true to their principles and unbought-off like yourself.
Regardless of what anyone says, he just keeps marching through with right wing talking points.
Weiner says: "But the fact remains, the arc of cost for Medicare is actually lower than it is for private insurance plans, despite the fact they’re taking care of the most vulnerable population, 65 and over."
And Cavuto ignores it.
Weiner says: "44 years we’ve seen them do four percent, what it takes private insurance 30 percent to do."
And Cavuto ends the interview.
Try to find ANY company ANYWHERE...that can operate on 4%.
Take your time.
Trouble is, they'll likely toss it out or weaken it substantially during reconciliation.
EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!!!!
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
Also, he was John Stewart's roommate in college!
No shit?
kewl.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Those two together in college must have been ring-tailed pissers!
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
He wouldn't be any different if I asked . .
EVET: Clinton got oil prices down to 12.50 a barrel in 98. Gas about 1.25 a gallon.
CAVUTO: So you trust that you can get a savings from government.
it's the governments job to restrain greed and protect the public from reckless exploitation for the common good idiot!
CAVUTO: You trust government.
In 1968 I remember paying $.25 and down as far as $.17 /gal for gas.
Now just add $1,$2,$3,$4,$5 to the above figures.
I remember filling the tank of my 1965 pontiac for $3.63.
OH,GREAT OL' MEMORIES.
No more framing the public option as a "wacko far-left trojan horse 'fetish item'"
That crap has to stop right now.
Without the public option, or some unnamed thing that does exactly what the public option does but isn't called the public option, we don't have health care reform, period.
To reform health care, we must reduce costs.
To reduce costs, we must cover everyone.
To cover everyone, we must have an individual mandate.
For an individual mandate to be just, there must be a public option. Otherwise it boils down to the government forcing citizens to purchase consumer products from private corporations.
Money is speech, the SCOTUS has told us. Well? We all have a fundamental First Amendment right NOT to be compelled to speak (ie give money to anyone.)
It's not like taxes. Taxes are not your money. And you don't have a First Amendment right to dissociate yourself from the government.
It's not like auto insurance. Anyone has the right to not buy a car if they don't want to buy insurance. And for those who do, there exists a robust public option: surety bonds and self insurance.
The public option IS health care reform. Without it, this is just a giveaway to insurance companies.
LOL
Do I trust the government? No, I don't trust anyone. I trust and verify, as they say.
But I do know this: I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for the honesty and good will of the insurance industry.
The public option isn't about "trusting" government. It's about having an option that WE can set the standards for, that WE can regulate, that WE can insist operates within the bounds of decency.
Now, let me ask you this, are you going to forgo Medicare? Do you trust the government to enforce the law? To put out fires? To defend the nation? To deliver mail? To build roads? To ensure the safety of food? The cleanliness of water? To educate children?
No? Then what the frak are you doing here?
Government is not the problem. Idiots are! They buy into the whole government takeover thing for a reason. Their idiocy.
is that Weiner has to defend the "public option."
Had we started with "single-payer healthcare for every American," they could have compromised their way to the "public option" instead of making their "Waterloo" A MASSIVE GIVEAWAY TO INSURANCE INDUSTRY.
Dem's can explain until there blue in the face to these uneducated, terrorist lunatics on Faux Noise, but they're just too stupid to ever understand it.
Their Repugliscum attitude is sickening to all but a pathetic few.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
... it's not like Shifty Geithner has taken over the banks. We haven't forced you to sell whatever luxury piece of trash you drive and buy an Edsel.
And this 'government can't run anything right'? If that's the case, why the fuck were you cheerleading for Bush when he told us we were winning in Iraq?
you'd think he'd get the picture by now, but oh nos!
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
. . obviously.
Anthony Weiner is one kick ass Congressman.
And I have the dumbfuck Mike Pence.
My golfing buds think Pence is great and Weiner is a socialist.
Very difficult times her in Indiana.
God I love this guy! I first saw him on Morning Schmoe a few weeks ago when he had ol' squinty speechless, and my admiration of him has grown ever since.
Did you see Anthony Weiner challenge Republicans to put-up or shut-up on healthcare in the house finance committee? If not, watch it and enjoy.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=278...
And ANYONE expects a fair fight between someone that's actually GOT a brain and knows how to use it vs. a COMPLETELY empty suit?? Cavuto, after being fired from various other fox-like broadcast infotainment organizations (CNBC) ,thinks he can actually keep up with Weiner?? HA!!
Cavuto IS AN IDIOT !!!
After b*tch slapping Cavuto President Obama should be calling Wiener's office for a little help.
Cong Wiener you are right on target.
No Public Option, No Health Care Bill.
Without a public option the Insurance Companies would
continue to rip the system off because they would not have
a competitor to keep the honest!
Great performance by Rep. Weiner!
We need more passion like that, and like Barney Frank, from the rest of the Democratic Party!
FOX News brings on progressive members of Congress to highlight their disagreement with Obama, and, in the meantime, the representatives get to make great points. Truth and common sense are such dangerous weapons.
Hey FOX, please keep the liberal Democrats on your show. I might actually start watching.
You wonder why people behave as they do? Don't turn to religion for your answer; turn to the public square the next time there is an execution and look into the eyes of the citizens. Naked crime:they revel in it.It is their life,their sustenance,their joy
And cavuto is an interrupting tool in addition to being a complete idiot.
Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them. The dumb and lazy ones I give mundane duties. The smart ambitious ones I put on my staff. The smart and lazy ones I make my commanders.
Wouldn’t 4 percent be too small to ever be able to compete on prices? 4 percent of 300 million according to my math is 12 million expected to enroll in the Private option. Is that large enough to force prices down I wonder?
http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/09/05/the-chicken-a... Kip Sullivan
Medicare has never had to compete with the insurance industry for “customers.” Medicare’s administrators had a good idea of how much leverage they had on day one over the nation’s providers. This allowed them (eventually) to make an offer to America’s providers that the providers could not refuse – accept Medicare’s below-average rates or lose a lot of money.
If the “option” isn’t going to have a ready-made supply of providers to work with, how will it be able to determine what premiums it will charge and which providers its enrollees can see so that it can begin the process of recruiting a customer base?
The problem is that the “option’s” managers won’t be able to negotiate advantageous rates with providers unless they can give providers some idea of how many patients they will deliver to them, but they can’t make that estimate until they have some idea of what premiums the “option” will charge, but they can’t do that till they know what they have to pay providers, etc.
Replace the appointed junior US senator with Anthony
Weiner-way to GO. Got the last word in over "first & last
word"Cavutto.
Well, that was a schmucky interview. Interruptions all day and a cheap shot at the end.
Yeah, but it takes a Noo Yawka like Weiner who refuses to take the shit from Cavuto and throws it right back in his face! Way to go, Tony!
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
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