Conrad: Public Plan Doesn't Have The Votes In Senate

The Washington Post:

Earlier today, Sen. Kent Conrad, the North Dakota Democrat who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, introduced a "potential compromise" on the public plan: A system of federally-chartered co-ops that could offer a non-profit alternative to the for-profit insurance industry. In this telling, the co-ops preserve the central feature of the public plan -- they're a competitor to the traditional insurance industry -- but are free from the baggage of government control.

I spoke to the Senator this evening about the co-op model, and he said a few things that surprised me. First, his search for an alternative was on behalf of the G-11 -- the key Senate powerbrokers on health care. Second, it proceeded from the premise that the public plan doesn't have the votes. All Republicans are opposed and, according to Conrad, "at least three Democrats." And third, he thinks reconciliation is basically out as a viable option for comprehensive health reform.

Read the whole story: The Washington Post

Comments

[Icantbelieveher]

Republican arguments will not work. They way that they are not for a government option, because the government cannot do a good job with a public option. If that is the case than it will fail, and I would think they would want that to happen. If you get to keep your own insurance, they can't argue that the government is getting between you and your doctor, especially when insurance is already doing that!

Why are republicans (and some democrats) so afraid of a public option, if it's not required that you use it? Hmmmmmmmmm!

[UncommonSenz]

For the record (since you seem to be trying to take a shot at me) I agree, have agreed, and will continue to agree with everything in that statement.

I am as pro-public option as one can be.

I have repeatedly said EXACTLY the same things you just said.

Clear enough?

[ProgressiveAndProud1]

Blue Cross and the DLC called ... they tell me your check is in the mail and they are proud of you. Good work!

[Icantbelieveher]

I didn't mention your name anywhere in my post! I was talking about the republicans on television, but if you want it to be about you, then so be it.

[Icantbelieveher]

73% of voters want a choice of a private or public health insurance plan, including Democrats (77%), Independents (79%), and Republicans (63%).



If they work for the people, what is the problem?

[hulagirrrl]

Right, maybe we need to remind the day after day after day....

[PigLipstick]

Because with the politicians in the pockets of the health insurance industry, it wouldn't take long for the insurance companies to continue cherry picking only healthy customers while dumping the sick and most expensive on the public system ! That's what they have been doing to Americans for thirty years, dumping the sick ones on Medicaid or along side a road to die !

[Icantbelieveher]

No coop! I called the Finance committee and they act like they can't wait to get you off the phone! The only thing that will work for them is public out rage!

Why wouldn't democrats want to vote yes on the best thing to happen to the American people in decades? Maybe they are ready to retire!

I told them that if they weren't going to vote for the people, then there's no reason to show up in the next election, since there would be no benefit to having democrats in office! They had better not squander this majority the voters have given them!

[robeson]

Imagine if the Senate ruled that they would meet one day a year, and only pass legislation if 100% agreed. The defenders of 'not having a public health care' vote say the Senate can do this and enforce it, that this Senate rule could not be overturned on any grounds including Constitutional.

I pray they are wrong.

[sixx]

They are wrong because the argument that the Senate rules on cloture, and filibuster are procedural only (not subject to review), would be expose as substantive because they inhibit simple votes on legislation.

[Icantbelieveher]

McCain, John (R) $7,602,124
McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $1,369,435
Baucus, Max (D-MT) $1,159,125
Cornyn, John (R-TX) $968,769
Coleman, Norm (R-MN) $906,578
Paul, Ron (R-TX) $902,337
Pallone, Frank Jr (D-NJ) $845,445
Rangel, Charles B (D-NY) $824,049
Specter, Arlen (R-PA) $718,848
Smith, Gordon H (R-OR) $712,563
Chambliss, Saxby (R-GA) $709,159
Harkin, Tom (D-IA) $674,298
Roberts, Pat (R-KS) $671,449
Collins, Susan M (R-ME) $653,519
Udall, Mark (D-CO) $573,765
Dingell, John D (D-MI) $570,236
Landrieu, Mary L (D-LA) $567,418
Price, Tom (R-GA) $529,851

President Obama got campaign contributions from the health industry too -- but he's for a public option! Come on senators -- vote for the people, not your corporations! Call your senators and let them know where you stand!

[Montgriz]

That is a list of shame. Yet, there is nothing we can do...the system is broken. Every one of these people can justify the bribes they receive, and go on and on and on.....I guess I am getting old and cynical, but I have never felt so down on this country as I do these days. I thought we would never stoops so low as we did justifying Viet Nam, but we did at My Lai, then Kent State, then the Reagan years, now this corruption in our government, unchecked and growing....and we have NOT ONE person except a small handful of dedicated people, in our elected government officials that remain honest and decent. money has destroyed America, ironically, just as the Reds said back in the 30's

[steamboat]

I do notice you omitted the fact that first JFK had Diem assasinated and LBJ made-up the Tonkin Gulf story inorder to start a full-scale war (550,000 troops and which led to 58,000+ American lives) in VietNam.

[UncommonSenz]

Finally a true statement:

"Now who is mixing single payer and public option??

Most polls do show high approval for public option. As far as single payer, that lags only because of the lies corporate media keep selling."

I am for public option. I would love it without any triggers, and have the COOP as a third option, not replacing the public option. I do not know if that is politically possible, but I will fight for it.

I am for single payer, but it will not happen. It does not have 70% approval rating, it has 49% approval rating. Yes, that rating is driven by the corporate media and the scare taticts of "bid bad socialized medicine.... boogedity boo!!!" nonsense spewed by the insurance lobby, and yes that sucks.

But it is reality, so pissing and moaning about single payer right now will not make it happen. This coop thing DOES scare me, because I don't want to make it the alternative of a true public option. But the points that Conrad makes are interesting- and need to be looked at, even if only to figure out how to defeat them.

[ProgressiveAndProud1]

OK .... I looked at it and dismissed it as the scam scumb@g Conrad knows it to be.

He is only pushing it because he knows it can NOT work nationwide and .... poof

NO REFORM AT ALL!!! ..... Just the way the DLC wants it.

[UncommonSenz]

So far you have given one actual opinion about why it cannot work, that it won't be nationwide. But according to his interview, that is not the case:

"In the form Sen. Rockefeller offered, it can even use Medicare payment rates. These co-ops don't seem like they'd have that size or weight. How would they compete with large private insurers?

They might have that weight. One option is for a national cooperative. That would give it the heft and weight to compete. But you know, one of the interesting things when we talk to experts is that they say critical mass is probably around 500,000 members. Puget Sound is probably around 580,000 and they compete successfully against much larger entities. The experts tell us that there are probably advantages of size up to a point, but after that point, the law of diminishing returns sets in."

And no, i am not saying that Conrad isn't a guy bought and sold by the insurance companies. He may very well be, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a national co-op (and no I am not saying that it would work- just that nobody here has yet said why it wouldn't)

[Icantbelieveher]

Contact the committee on finance and tell them -- no on coop!

It's just a way to water down health care and keep their insurance company friends in charge!

http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/contact.htm

[19iowa62]

Our Congressmen (especially Republicans) are cowards. We can fight two world wars and send a man to the moon, but apparently reforming health care (public option or single-payer) is just too difficult for them. They all need spine implants.

[ProgressiveAndProud1]

The Democratic party will never be able to differentiate itself from the corrupt right wing until it totally purges itself of the DLC/Blue Dog types.

They are a cancer on the party and to you Clintonites out there I put quite a bit of the blame on YOU! The Clintons are the worse thing to happen to the party in a generation.

[Montgriz]

jI don't see the Obama gang demanding single payer health care...or much of anything else...I do see them appointing Republcans to vital spots, giving trillions to their pals, easing many environmental rules, avoiding the gay rights issues, spending more on bribes to faith based charities and the "preachers" who support them....I see the Obama crowd being silent on the Patriot Act, incrased rendition, torture, the forbidding of photos to be released just like Bush kept pics of returning coffins to be filmed....Obama is not doing so hot....

[KarenT]

June 27th is National Health Care Day. Sign up to get involved:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hcservice/

[Belisarius]

Here is the contribution history of the insurance lobby to congress. Notice the trend? Understand what is going on?

Election % to Dems % to Repubs
---------------------------------------------------------
2010* 59% 41%
2008* 45% 55%
2006* 34% 64%
2004* 32% 67%

source: opensecrets.org

Remember in 2010.

[PhillyQuaker]

Everyone, please ask your own insurance broker how they feel about supporting the public option.
Many care only about losing some commission $$'s and rant and rave and call the President "Barry"
and warn against socialism. They don't understand that dead insureds do not pay commission $$'s nor do insureds who are too sick to continue working nor do employers that go out of biz as the cost of group health insurance is killing them.

[PigLipstick]

It's very strange that the Democrats were able to twist enough arms last year to hand over $7 Trillion Dollars to the private Wall Street Banks but they just can't get a majority on the one issue that would minimize or totally eliminate corporate inclusion !

Conrad is a good man but when I see Democrats like him cave in to the DLC power brokers I have no hope for the long term future of the party. The American people are quickly running out of patience for an administration that reverses policy daily and is beginning to look morre and more like an extension of the last administration !

[ProgressiveAndProud1]

UncommonSenz you are lost .....

Look at the bogus co-op program, it is a board that solicits bids from HMOs to provide the services.

Get your head out of the corporate DLC's @$$!!!

[UncommonSenz]

No it isn't. It solicits services from ANYONE that provides them- doctors, HMOs, private practices, Non-profits whomever. And the members control who the board is that is making those choices.

There is no way to get medical services unless you pay for them. Period. and this does not change that, and does not limit it to HMOs

"Who would charter these? What is the process? Do I go over to my local health insurance exchange and put in an application?

The way co-ops typically are formed, people who feel they're not appropriately served, or not served at all, band together. They form an organization, elect a board, hire people to do the work, pool their money, and the organization goes forward.

These cooperative entities would provide their contracts through the exchange just like everyone else, be subject to the same rules as everyone else, in terms of reserve requirements, in terms of what kind of contracts they could offer. People would go to their exchange, they'd see the option, and if they liked it, they'd sign up, and then they become one of the members, because every member is an owner. And they would have elections and that elected board would choose the leadership."

[ProgressiveAndProud1]

That will never work and you know it, that is why you support it. It will fail and instant NO REFORM AT ALL.

You are nearly as bad as the tr0lls that come here and start everything with "I am a democrat but ....." and then start dishing the RNC/DLC talking points.

[Belisarius]

Can't deliver the public option? Send them home.

It is unfortunate, but many in congress are tied to the hip of the lobbies. For example, the insurance lobby has been Senator Conrad's second largest donor, for the entire time he has been in congress. And they are shoveling the money to him right now.

People like Conrad do not work for the good the nation. The best thing is to replace them. And if another dem will not run against them, then I for one will pick anybody else, regardless of flavor. People that are owned by lobbies are not dems or repubs, they are just bought.

2010 is just around the corner.

[turfkiller]

The 45 million who don't have health insurance should get a 1,000 dollar tax break because when ever they buy anything or any service they are paying the health insurance costs employers pass on. Those with health insurance are really on welfare because if they were on their own, they couldn't afford it.

[frontman9000]

This is total BULLSH*T!!!! Over 70% of Americans want a single-payer plan. If he doesn't think he has the votes then its our job as Americans to vote for politicians who will!!!
If you don't have enough votes Sen. Conrad then go back and hammer those few Dems that are opposed to single payer. Or at least let the people know who they are so we know who to put on the chopping block.

Call, write or email your representatives and tell them if they want appease insurance companies then they can see if they have enough votes to re-elect them.

It's Obama's job to tell them that this compromise is totally unacceptable to the American people and get them back to work on a plan that includes real reform.

[UncommonSenz]

"Over 70% of Americans want a single-payer plan."

Please show a link to that.

No poll has EVER had single payer rated that high. That many people may want reform, but single payer is not the only option out there.

[ProgressiveAndProud1]

On this you are dead wrong ..... Been listening to DLC too much.

[ProgressiveAndProud1]

On this you are de@d wrong ..... Been listening to DLC too much.

[steamboat]

I'm all for what you want.......All I ask is one SIMPLE question. Can YOU tell and guarantee me I'll have the same quality and fast service that Teddy Kennedy had (and all other congressmen/senators)?

Unlike YOU, I have a national plan now. Its called the Veterans Administration. And yes, in some area's the hospitals and out-patient clinics are acceptable. But I can tell you from personal experience some of the places are a joke. And we're talking only several million people involved and not 300+ million......Also, I can tell you how my fellow DAV (Disabled American Veterans) members and Vet Center friends complain about needed-medicines being denied due to their costs, etc. Especially a couple of my friends with severe diabetes. And another friend who needs a hip replacement........So tell me, can YOU guarantee me we'll have FAST and QUALITY medical care?

[steamboat]

frontman9000, still awaiting your reply? ..or anybody else.