MoveOn.org Rallies Activists Over Public Option Compromise

Rahm Emanuel has caused consternation among progressives -- including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Howard Dean -- for suggesting health care legislation could come with triggers for a public option. (A trigger would mean a years-long delay between passage of health care reform and the implementation of a public plan.)

Now MoveOn.org is rallying its membership against such a compromise, asking supporters in an email to call the White House and tell them "you're disappointed in Chief of Staff Emanuel's comments."

The full email:

Dear MoveOn member,

President Obama has been speaking out for weeks about the heart of health care reform: a public health insurance option that will lower costs and help cover everyone.

But yesterday, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel signaled support for a "trigger" provision--a proposal that would undermine the public option, and put off real reform for years.

This morning the president reaffirmed his support for a public health insurance option. But according to The Huffington Post, Emanuel has been floating the idea of a trigger since January.

Right now, when key committees are finalizing health care legislation, Emanuel's remarks will only embolden conservative opponents of reform. He should be standing with the majority of Americans for a strong public health insurance option--not disastrous half-measures like the "trigger."

Can you call the White House switchboard and tell them you're disappointed in Chief of Staff Emanuel's comments supporting the "trigger"? Tell them voters want a strong public health insurance option--not half-measures like the "trigger."

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Comments

[GalapagosTortoise]

We need single payer health care in this country. The public option, however, will provide an opportunity for Americans to dump the health insurance industry, in protest of their very existence, without harm to themselves and their families.

Emanuel has his good points, but this is not one of them. His brother, too, is in the minority of medical professionals opposing single payer. (Supported by 59% of physicians in a peer-reviewed study cited by Physicians For A National Health Plan.)

I may be mistaken, here, but I believe MoveOn sold out the People, on this very issue. That is, single payer, as supported by 65% of the American public. I heard they opposed it. But, it wouldn't be the first time MoveOn lacked a sort of ratiional base on some issues ...

I don't mind pushing Emanuel, but I wouldn't do it through MoveOn. Even though they're good on some stuff. There's too many other things, at this point, they don't make enough sense on.

I agree with Senator Sanders, who does support single payer, that health care for all is *the* civil rights issue of our day.

[mlmn08]

Please contact the White House with your comments about single payer. The votes should be there. Tell Emanuel to make it work without Republican support because it is for the people and we desperately need it.

[musselmanm]

I am a former MoveOn activist. MoveON always starts too late and does too little. They try to organize groups at the last minute. People do not have the time or inclination to participate in activities with no notice ahead of time.
People that sign up for activities do not follow through. If they show up, they do not wish to participate in the proposed protest or action.
This is very much like our non-audacious President and Congress.
NO CAJONES!

[AnotherTry]

I have skype. Tell me who to call, and i can do it right now. Effortless really.

[IndelibleVoice]

MoveOn is a great way to get things done! And with the technology we have today, it's really no big deal to mobilize the troops so to speak.

"People that sign up for activities do not follow through...­" Guess that's how President Obama got elected--people signed up for activities (like voting) but didn't follow through?

[GalapagosTortoise]

Agreed. MoveOn also spreads themselves too thin. I signed a petition with them once and next thing I knew, I was signed up for membership (without my permission) and was bombarded with a few to several emails daily on all kinds of other issues. And I did not agree with their positions on some of these other things. But they seemed to assume that everyone did.

Plus, perhaps I am wrong -- but I believe MoveOn even opposed single payer.

Another time, I thought they lost their sanity was when they refused to support hand-counted paper ballots because they teamed up with the Green Party that wanted run-offs and couldn't envision hand-counted run-offs when America can't even hand-out a straight and simple election. On this issue, when I spoke with MoveOn activists, they were in complete denial when confronted with the rational dillemma around computerized voting -- that the rest of the advanced world well faces as they hand-count their votes -- much in the same way some are in denial about single payer as a solution to the perplexity of the rest of the rational, advanced world on that issue, as well.

[PaxEterna]

SINGLE PAYER NOW.

All the rest is folly designed to protect the power elite.

Wake up, America!

It's time for a new civil rights push in this country, time to put the rich and powerful out of office once and for all, and all their sycophants aka lobbyists.

Obama does NOT have the courage to do the right thing for the people, so we must lead him to the proverbial trough: SINGLE PAYER PLAN for all Americans.

Otherwise, we the people will continue to be shunted and shuttled to the back of the bus, so to speak, and the bus is downright broken.

END FOR PROFIT HEALTH INSURANCE, HOSPITALS, AND DOCTORS NOW.

[lenoirlady]

Today, RIGHT NOW, we need to go to Dr. Howard Dean's web site and read his plan for Health Care in this country. Private Payer is the only real health care reform. Only that will make any difference whatsoever. Again and again - it's now or the Insurance companies and big pharma will find their foothold and we will be suffering for the remainder of all our lives who are reading this. This country, we the people, need reason for celebration and for the ability to have a standard of health care that is in EVERY industralized nation on the planet.
What is the resistence? Has big money altered our perception of what this is all about. I know Rahm is a disappointment. I hope President Obama isn't.

[discourse jockey]

I'm bracing myself for the disappointment of the presidential term.

WE WANT SINGLE PAYER

WE NEED SINGLE PAYER

WE... will probably never get single payer.

[M1]

SINGLE PAYER SINGLE PAYER SINGLE PAYER SINGLE PAYER SINGLE PAYER

[Tim303]

Copy.

[LoyalOpposition]

Copy X 2

[callmeslice23]

In all honesty, the public plan leads to single payer down the road.

We're having a hard enough time getting a public plan passed right now, single payer will not happen at this current time.

Please, put your energy into getting a public plan passed.

[spirithaven]

No triggers. HELP Plan seems win/win and is under budget.

Get it implemented. When someone is interested to find out what and how things are being said today it is like there are a lot of fingers being pointed or possibly fear or hurt. The system we have doesn't work and as a nation healthcare for "we the people" is long overdue.

[modwiz]

Help plan is a public option not single payer and Sherrod Brown is a weasel. Single payer is what we want!!

[instarx]

"Everyone has to buy insurance" is NOT health care reform in my book. I don't care if the insurance is from a public plan or not. Just adding a public plan on top of the already Rube Goldberg US health care system is like trying to fix a leaky boiler with duct tape. It just makes it MORE complicated and wateful. ONLY a simplified single payer system can provide health care for all Americans at a reasonable cost.

THe only hope I have is that a public plan will drive insurance companies out of business, but even the public plan is being crippled so as not to do that. recent press releases by some Senators insist on a "competitive" public plan (i.e. one that has "triggers", artificial costs and non-competitive clauses written into them).

Don't be fooled people. All these tweaks to a public plan, including getting it's cost (and therefore benefits) down to the bare minimum, are solely for the benefit of insurance industry profits.

[NicoloM]

I want single payer, but would settle for a public option that isn't subsidizing private bureacracies and corporatists by taking their "uninsurables" into the public plan so that they get the low hanging fruit.
Is my concern about the risk pools wrong?
I think I heard Bernie Sanders say this would be a problem too.

[modwiz]

Bernie Sanders is the only person in the senate that is giving us the straight truth. The rest are either quiet for know or doing the public option weasel tango. Do not be fooled by the public option.

[modwiz]

Don't settle for Public Option unless you thought Mission Accomplished was a fact. Bernie Sanders is the only voice of of non-weasel that I have yet heard on the MSM. And that would be Ed, Chris, Keith and Rachel. We are going to get this right and it is single payer. Accept no substitutes.

[instarx]

You are right to be concerned. One of the early "tweaks" proposed for a public plan was to prohibit general enrollment. That was a clear measure to foist all sick and uninsurable people onto the government plan while the for-profit insurance companies kept the profitable customers. I have not heard much about this lately, but be watchful - it is still a red herring that might show up in a public plan.

[HypocriticalSpamazon]

You people have a heart attack every time somebody says something and declare the end of the world.

Hope we get healthcare soon. You hyperventilating over-reactors really, really need it.

[themainpoint]

Can you substantiate what you are basing your seemingly irrational trust and faith on?

As far as I can tell, our leaders have taken us to an edge of a cliff on every front and people who are concerned health care reform will be another wealth care reform sham have reasons to substantiate their views.

Let's see, we pay tons more for health care and die sooner than any other western nation. Our own representatives made a deal to fix drug prices higher for Americans than for any other people in the world. Recent leaders have also authorized unnecessary trillion dollar wars, damaged our reputation throughout the entire world. They rushed trillions of hard earned taxpayer dollars through in bailouts for companies and institutions that were fraudulently un. Our k-12 educational system has a very low rank in the world. We've done nothing substantial to end global warming. Our borders are wide open despite a very expensive war on terror going on.

Am I missing anything?

[cosmicbullfight]

I think there is a deep, real difference between hyperventilating over-reactors and people who want to apply and maintain pressure on those elected to represent their interests. This is really a matter of paying attention, and keeping them honest.

[modwiz]

Yeah we hyperventilate but at least we have a heart.

[instarx]

There are real, objective reasons for people to be concerned. There are many powerful forces trying to derail or water-down health care for americans. They have already scuttled single-payer and are now working on neutering any public plan we might get. Anyone who can't see that is blind.

[roninroshi]

Obamas plate is over full dealing w/Rahm and Joe...

[Weathermaker]

Lame excuse. He did pick the two of them, didn't he?

[Manx]

During the campaign, Obama said he would be a listener. Trouble is, he's listening to policital hacks like Rahm Emanuel rather than the American people.

[DesertDogAlpha]

He may be listening to the 80 percent who are generally happy with their healthcare. And not to the significant number of the unisured who are in the country illegally, can't vote, etc.

[Tom Payned]

The "80 percent generally happy with their health care" is a canard.

As we all know, polls can be skewed by the way the questions are asked.

Ask me if I'm satisfied with my health care, I'll say yes, as I equate my health care with the care provided by the CARE GIVERS, I.e., my doctors, nurses etc. . .

Now, ask me if I'm happy with the insurance company and the answer is NO.

Ask me to break it down I can do so rather easily.

My premiums are too high, for though my employer makes it available, we pay the entire cost of the coverage, a monthly $485 PER PERSON, not family plan, with 20% co-pays, pre authorization for any medicine not generic. All specialists require pre authorization even in an emergency, (like they'll grant it on the spot).

Each renewal, even on a med you've been on for years, requires a new pre approval with "Peer Reviewed" studies supplied by the physician, justifying the medication. I spoke with one staffer who told me this was to get the physicians to give up after a while.

So let's distinguish what about their "healthcare" these 80 percent are generally happy about.

The question of do you favor a public option is clear. 72 % in favor 58 % said they'd pay higher taxes that option.

I'll trust those poll numbers they relate to medical insurance, not wrapping itself up as insurance being part of healthcare.

[Palemoon]

You Republicans are a laughing stock.

[weatherwaxx]

50 million uninsured Americans are not happy with their healthcare. And if you take that number out of the overall population, there's no way you get 80%.

I understand the insurance industry is spending half a billion to sabotage public health care. I wonder how much of that is going to blogging hacks who push misinformation?

[classicalgeek]

I am a native-born United States citizen and a small business owner, and even though I haven't been to the doctor in almost a decade, I am "uninsurable". I can't even remember the last time I was sick. So the uninsured are not just the sick--even those with "pre-existing conditions" may not need care. All the "pre-existing conditions" exclusion does is make uninsurable those who might need care, someday . . . .

Quit lumping everyone in together. My parents, who are in their eighties, visit the doctor maybe once every three years. Yet if they had to buy private insurance they would be uninsurable too. And even though they have Medicare, they are required to pay almost $400 per month in additional insurance, mainly to insure themselves against the insurance companies.

[incognito-ergo-sum]

Why aren't business fighting for single pay? If they do not cover our health insurance needs look at all the money that would free up for investment and higher wages. And look at all the paper work that would eliminate.

[DesertDogAlpha]

I think we should have a single government-owned automaker. It'll be great, just like in the old USSR. Oops, I guess we're moving in that direction anyway - a great use of all of our money.

[alguien]

interesting that you equivocate people's health and well-being with widgets.

[modwiz]

Desertdog your sarcasm makes you irrelevant. What do you really want to say. We'll listen.

[billw8017]

It's true that like other modern nations, the old USSR did offer universal health care. Communism fell largely because it opened up and let malfeasance be exposed, somewhat because the commissars saw a way to enrich themselves free of central control. During the Yeltsin government, the subsequent disorder, and the radical change to Chicago school economics, life expectancy fell by five years.

The odd truth is that when the theories of Milton Friedman have been implemented, people suffered terribly. Chile, Argentina, Russia and Iraq saw their peoples driven to violent resistance. The SE Asian tigers had their little bubbles burst by capital flight. Governments, too, do best when they tend to business and forget abstract theories.

[PaxEterna]

I've been wondering this myself, and so I started asking around.

Turns out there is a financial "advantage" to providing the coverage insofar as the govt gives business a tax break. I think business gets to write off the cost, thereby lowering their taxable income. It's another hidden scam whose benefit only accrues to the corporates. Once you know this, it makes sens that the business community is not leading the call for reform yet Obama now wants to tax the people who get health insurance through their employers. This makes no sense, as the average American cannot actually afford (wages too low) the health care provided through employment. The system is broken except for the people at the top of the food chain. The only real solution is to disentangle - at all levels - profit form health care.

[Davwbaird]

These are the times that try men's souls like you would not believe. This madness. is almost more than i can bearer. I would go but I have planted too many trees to leave before they are much grown.

[mrh3]

How will they shaft us? Let us count the ways. First the public option will be an underfunded dumping ground.

[Labsaregreat]

not if they charge market based premium rates

[mrh3]

Second there will be a loop hole in the pre-existing conditions clause.

[DesertDogAlpha]

The public option will be the equivalent of the uninsured motorist pool for car insurance. It will be intended to provide for a minimal level of routine clinical care and health catastrophes. It will not be intended to allow companies to shed health care obligations or to give people the idea that they should leave jobs in companies (or the government) that have good health insurance so they can let their inner entrepreneur out - all with the expectation that the rest of us will then pay for their insurance. Anything based on the expectation that payments to hospitals and doctors will be unilaterally reduced is a fantasy - those will be either phantom savings or they'll work as well as Medicare/Medicaid (trilliions underfunded and sinking fast).

[modwiz]

The American Peon ( middle class) has acceded to the notion that a small tax increase is acceptable be cause it will be much smaller that the extortion they are paying for fake coverage now. They know it will actually save them money and doctors and hospitals can make a living=profit. There is a real qualitative difference between making a living and making a killing. The two words reveal themselves when looked at in this context. Greedy people want to make a killing. Well run but compassionate business (probably excludes having shareholders, which health care does not need) that makes its consumers happy will make a living and a profit. The Cayman Islands and Switzerland will be the losers here instead of us.

[Tom Payned]

NO. The public option is simple. Let anyone who wants to buy the same insurance coverage, with the same options, at the same price that federal employees and congressmen pay. That's what Obama campaigned on and promised in the October 8 debate with McCain.

I'm not asking for free health care, I'm just asking for a level of care at the same cost as public employees.

They have a wide option of plans not just a one size fits all, chosen solely by your employers ability to offer.

Why should those whose salary we pay, have better benefits than us?

People can choose whatever level of care they want to provide for themselves or their families, or what they can afford to pay.

Provide lower income people with subsidized preventative care which will result in the government spending less on them when they become much more ill and qualify for medicaid or medicare under disability insurance, or for ER visits.

The old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, is true. Just check out the charges of an ER visit for the flu, versus a free flu shot for all the uninsured.

[modwiz]

If you pay taxes there is no reason to think that single payer is free. Are our wars free? Was the wall street bailout free? Let us peons have single payer health care and perhaps we'll let the oligarchs avoid a public revolt. How's that for a public option?

[DesertDogAlpha]

The public option I could buy as long as that option faced exactly the same regulatory and funding requirements as private options and didn't benefit from taxpayer subsidies and funding not available to the private option providers. As long as we're at it let's put Medicare and medicaid on that same basis - maybe they can be straightened out at long last. If we don't do this we'll wind up with a public option on the same absurd financila footing as social security, Medicare and Medicaid (and state and federal government in general). And it will drive the private sector insurers out of business so then we'll have a single payer plan. This is about as palatable to me as being an employee of the state of California and getting paid in IOUs. You OK with this?

[billw8017]

How will they shaft us? Let us count the ways? First we turn on our friends and cut our own throats for the amusement of people who don't care what happens to people like us. Being underfunded means some triage as compared to getting nothing at all.

Now, I live in Milwaukee where even the uninsured get pretty good care by going to an emergency room. Afterward, totally unable to afford the care they get, patients stiff the hospitals and doctors so people with insurance have to pay the costs for all. Where I am, what care I can expect has a real problem in this regard: It is already a government funded program; it just isn't rationally organized and has funny little quirks. For example, people with insurance can't be sure of their care.