Weiner: AHIP Report Makes Strongest Case In Weeks For Public Option

One of the most high-profile progressives in the House of Representatives argued on Monday that a new insurance lobby report disparaging the Senate's main reform effort gives an unexpected and strong boost to hopes for passing a public option.

Appearing on MSNBC, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) was asked about the hot news of the day on the health care front: a new report commissioned by America's Health Insurance Plans, which concluded that, under the Senate Finance Committee's legislation, family premiums would rise more than $4,000.

While dismissing the report's findings as typical of an industry that seeks to protect its profits, the New York Democrat also made a fairly salient point. The analysis basically assumes that insurers will raise their rates because the finance committee won't make the pool of consumers more desirable for them. All of which lays out the logical case for providing consumers with a cheap and available alternative, set up and administered by the federal government.

"I think in a strange way and obviously they didn't mean this, the health insurance lobby fired the most important salvo in weeks for the option," said Weiner. "Because they have said clear as day... they'll raise rates 111%."

"Here is a tell," Weiner offered earlier. "If you have the health care industry complaining that we're going to raise costs because of these changes, it is then putting us on notice that we haven't put enough cost containment in the bill. You know if the health care industry themselves is putting out a whole report saying that, that should be a tell to the Baucus team that, you know what, maybe it is time to go back and revisit the public option.

"But the other thing that is interesting here is the deal was always good for the health care guys. Look, you'll get all these new customers coming in and that is going to be the reason that you're going to take a hair cut here. But make no mistake about it, if the health care industry keeps raising costs, and I think this is what's going to happen with the Baucus bill, we'll put new requirements on them, they raise costs. And whatever subsidies we are giving people to buy their own insurance, they won't be able to afford it And we'll keep on losing people. This is the whole argument for the public option. It is right here laid out by the health care industry right now."

The congressman's argument seems eminently logical. Indeed, champions of the public option essential make the case that the provision is necessary because private insurers won't simply bring costs down on their own. The report commissioned by AHIP and put together by PricewaterhouseCoopers hints as much -- making the case that the finance committee's bill can't and won't reduce long term costs because it does not require enough young, healthy consumers to buy insurance.

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[Mich1020]

Congressman Weiner and Grayson, along with Speaker Polosi need to give the President some backbone when it comes to the Health Care Public Option. Tate Limbaugh says Obama is immature. I agree, sometimes you need to fight for what you believe, Mr. President. And so, I believe Mr. Obama, you need to assume a more mature political posture and do some real arm twisting like L.B.J., not "running" off to talk with educators, when the public option is on the line; or if you're uncomfortable with the image of L.B.J., how about like the Great Emancipator. Mr. Obama, you need to emancipate the American people from the fraud the Insurance Companies have placed on us. Be Strong!!!!!! We're behind you Mr. President!

[petermax]

If there is no public option, screw health care reform and place heavy regulations on the health care insurance companies. No denying people with preexisting conditions, no more lifetime caps, no denying benefits, caps on premiums.

[liberalOrgonian]

Americans have become suckers for the Insurance Industry. Their new report is a warning to all of us. We will be sending mountains of money their way, the government will be subsidizing them and they will have an empire larger and more powerful than our own government. Democracy has become corporate America.
Our government is broke, the common person is broke, the insurance industry is rich and wall st is on its way making money placing bets on crappy loans. What is wrong with this picture?

We all know now trickle down economics has defied gravity. And has left most of us out in the cold.

[Mike Hihn]

Does anyone here understand the issues?

Mandatory coverage is REQUIRED if you want insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. In fact, that has been the deal all along between the White House and the Insurance Companies.

It was Baucus who broke the deal, by significantly weakening the mandatory provisions that had been in the deal all along.

OF COURSE the American people will revolt at mandatory coverage. But it's the price you pay for requiring insurance companies to insure people who are already sick. If not, then MANY people will not buy insurance until AFTER they get sick. Why should they?

Can you buy life insurance after you're dead? Insurance greed, right?

There are very legitimate issues with the otherwise sensible exclusion of pre-existing conditions. We don't want people waiting until they are sick. But there are also cases of people who change jobs with a pre-existing condition, and others. How do we separate the two? Congress has no idea, or it would be in the bill.

Can we all chill, please?

http://PoliticallyHomeless.net "The New Majority: Americans fed up with BOTH parties.

[Wisconsin Dave]

PUBLIC OPTION ---- WHY NO FIGHT FOR IT

Liberals on the left, and we progressives on the far left,
surely we are not fighting hard for Public Option.
Our feeling being that it is a sell-out, as our heart is set on Single payer.

The conservative right as you know is opposed to Public Option.

So only center and center-right groups like MoveOn, and most of Democrats
now running government, only they are for Public Option.

[Beca]

Where did you get that MoveOn is a "center-right" group? That is totally wrong.

I was fighting for single payer for a long time, then I realized that since it never made it out of the gate either in the White House or in the Halls of Congress, I had to accept that and move onto the second best option, the Public Option. For the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would be opposed to a Public Option plan that would compete with the greedy private insurance industry and would force them to improve their services and reduce their exhorbitant costs.
What I've gathered is that members of Congress who oppose a Public Option do so because they are beholden to the health insurance industry, and are more loyal to them and their re-election possibilities than the American people.
Those people who are opposed to the Public Option do so because they are uninformed and have been deceived by the garbage from the opposition. They are fighting against their best interests. Wonder if they'll feel the same way when they realize that it will be mandatory to buy health insurance (thanks to the insurance industry lobby), if they don't buy it, they get a hefty financial penalty--and they have no choice but to buy the expensive private health insurance. Wonder if then they will realize how important is would be to have a Public Option available for all Americans.

[Wisconsin Dave]

HEALTH CARE DEADLOCK ---- “Catch 22”

Remember the old war movie Catch 22, well here we go again:

Voting in new politicians before Campaign Finance Reform,
this would only bring in new paid actors hired by the
corporate rich to protect excessive wealth.

It’s the “Catch 22,”
no way to have Campaign Finance Reform without honest politicians,
and no way to have honest politicians without Campaign Finance Reform.

[Wisconsin Dave]

Comes now wisdom, a window into reality,
no decent healthcare possible without a mass rebellion.

[Beca]

Just wait, if the final bill gets passed without a comprehensive public option available for all Americans, you will see a revolt. When people realize that it will then be mandatory to buy health insurance (this is thanks to the private health insurance lobby), and if one choses not to buy their insurance, there will be hefty financial penalties-----that is when you will see a massive revolt.
People are not making an effort to find out about the bills that are floating around in Congress, they are depending on the deceptive rhetoric of the commercial media, right wing extremist mouth pieces, and the criptic information comming from both sides of the isle in the halls of Congress.
This is a very serious issue, and people better start paying attention to what is being proposed, not from hacks in the media, but from the actual bills.
The intent of the Health Care Reform has been severely watered down, the regulations to be imposed to the private health care industry are so weak they guarantee that they will be ignored and/or stepped over by the greedy health insurance industry. The elimination of any meaningful Public Option only benefits the health insurance industry and hurts the American people. The guarantee of health care for every American has turned into a punishement for every American with the introduction of a mandatory requirement to buy health insurance with a hefty financial penalty---tantamount to mafia style extortion.

[chlai88]

It is clear as day now the need for a public option. Thank you AHIP, for shooting yourselves in the foot.

[HST]

I like what the AARP had to say about the AHIP report: "it's not worth the paper it's written on".

[Wisconsin Dave]

INTELLIGENT MIDDLE CLASS ---- BOTTLENECK IN HEALTH CARE

REAL ISSUE
Is healthcare wages due and owed to my slow thinking laboring class?

With most of my class earning minimum wage, $7.25 an hour,
and us hard labor generating all the wealth of society,
what is your opinion?

[stereolabb]

I say a national strike if Congress passes an insurance driven "mandate for all" plan. Don't buy forced mandates from already proven rip-off artists and cons (the Health Insurance Industry enabled by their lobbyists and Congressmen). Risk a fine or going to jail. If enough people "strike," what are the government/insurance companies going to do? Arrest a million people? Strength in numbers. This is war now. Game on.

[Wisconsin Dave]

You would not even have to stop paying insurance premiums.

Just get a majority in agreement to do it,
then watch Wall Street have kittens and
health insurers be putty in your hands.

O if we only had a hundred million to pull it off.

[Beca]

This is why demanding a comprehensive Public Option to be made available for all Americans is a MUST and is NOT NEGOTIABLE.
Not having the choice of a Public Plan (even if it's administered by a non-profit organization), while having a mandate of mandatory health insurance with hefty financial penalties for those who opt out of buying private health insurance is tantamount to MAFIA STYLE EXTORTION.

ALL THIS HAS BEEN CAREFULLY ORCHESTRATED BY THE PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY THOUGHT THEIR LOBBYISTS. THEY ARE THE NEW MAFIA AND IT IS UP TO ALL OF US TO STOP THEM.
WRITE LETTERS TO YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES, PRESIDENT OBAMA, VICE-PRESIDENT BIDEN, YOUR LOCAL NEWS PAPERS, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR TO ANY AND ALL NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS. MAKE OUT FLYERS WITH INFORMATION AND PASS THEM TO EVERYONE YOU ENCOUNTER ON THE STREETS, IN STORES, ETC.
THIS IS CRITICAL!! IT IS UP TO US TO MAKE SURE THE NEW MAFIA DOESN'T COMPLETELY TAKE OVER OUR LIVES.

[Wisconsin Dave]

PUBLIC OPTION ---- WHY IT IS A SMOKE SCREEN

(1) The corporate rich own the medical industry,
all of mass media and hire most in Congress as paid actors. The goal
being capitalism, the unregulated freedom to compete for excessive wealth.

(2) And so, in this healthcare debate Congress has but one function,
to give the illusion that reform will lower healthcare costs for you,
when the only goal is to milk the maximum dollars from you.

(3) Absolutely impossible is it for our capitalist Congress to ever destroy
any capitalist industry. Least of all capitalist medicine, which is producing
twice the profit of any other industry in America.

(4) Both of the reforms that the public has been brainwashed into having a
desire for, Public Option and Single Payer, would totally destroy our
capitalist medical industry. Again an impossible thing for a capitalist
Congress to ever do.

(5) First step in healthcare reform should have been done by President Obama
last January, namely what has never been done, establish 100% oversight and
honest regulation of a totally corrupt medical industry the operates in absolute secrecy.

(6) Second step should be the elimination of all profit in the medical industry,
Medicare being an excellent way to accomplish this.
For earning a profit off the hurting of the sick, surely this would ruin the morals
of the most honest man on earth.

[saami]

Your ravings make no sense. Capitalism that is unfettered not only doesn't work but is positively evil. It seeks only money and tries to do as little as possible. The healthcare insurance industry provides nothing at all; it is a middle man moving money from our pockets to it's pockets while trying to prevent us from gettin healthcare.

[Wisconsin Dave]

Either you did not read my above post or
your a capitalist here generating confusion.

For your post and my post are in perfect agreement.

[Tyler-Durden]

this appears to be part of the problem with text communication: the lack of context. because saami and Dave appear to be saying the same thing.

HEY DAVE: HOW 'BOUT THAT "REPLY" BUTTON? try it sometime. it helps with the "conversational aspect" of the forum. ok thx.

[Wisconsin Dave]

Your first paragraph is false, as it is exactly as I stated.

Your second paragraph is also false,
as I write not for you who desagree with me,
but for those who support me and need a
clear understanding of the argument at hand.

[GrandmaBEE]

And what the insurance industry is doing to us is better somehow? Healthcare and good health are a right. Why should we care if they loose their big profits and outrageous CEO bonuses? They ration care and control it all for their own profit. If the government controlled it at least we would have some control with our votes.

[Wisconsin Dave]

Pure confusion.
Are you a capitalist come here just to generate confusion?

[Wisconsin Dave]

Your first paragraph is false, as it is exactly as I stated.

Your second paragraph is also false,
as I write not for you who desagree with me,
but for those who support me and need a
clear understanding of the argument at hand.

[hatmadder]

It's very obvious and massively cynical that the insurance lobby saved the AHIP report for the last-minute. Weiner is right: Their reaction (which amounts to a cheap threat) makes the best argument of all for the public option...and an even better argument for single payer. These guys are NEVER going to be part of the solution. The scorpion reverting to its nature, indeed!

[Beca]

Here is another reason for a strong Public Option.
The private health insurance companies that manage Medicare Advantage plans (a program created by health industry lobby) received a 4% cut in their subsidies from the government for next year. What did they do in return? Sent out notices to their senior plan members that their insurance premiums for next year will increase by 45%, their co-pays will be increased, their prescription co-pays will also be increased, and they will eliminate several benefits such as the wellness programs, hearing aids, eye glasses and a number of other benefits.
Now, this is knowing that seniors will not be receiveing a cost of living increase in their social security payments next year.
Nice huh? When I heard this from my mother, that did it for me. The private health insurance industry is the new mafia and they must be eliminated before they totally destroy us and our lives.

[MinisterMelinda]

AHIP wants young people to be forced to buy insurance so they can spread the risks associated with having to insure all peoples. I am for the public option and this does make a good case for market place competition. The insurance industry basically helped to make the case for the Public Option to be vital to health care reform that will be of some good to all people.

Remember the story about the scorpion that hitched a ride on the back of a frog? The scorpion said......you knew all along I was a scorpion, why are you surprised that I stung you?

[HillaryPres2012]

I am for the public option, but where is the money coming from? The CBO said the Baucus would be budget neutral but the estimation is for taxes that will start next year and a program that won't start until 2013. Thus 10 years of taxes to cover 6 years healthcare. Where is the money coming from? You guessed it, us, the middle class.

[Beca]

A comprehensive Public Option to be made available for all Americans as a choice, would cost LESS than what they are trying to pass. A Public Option would only need start up money and after that it would be fully supported by the premiums it collects from its members.

Here is the thing. A Public Option, ideally, would be administered by a non-profit entity, meaning that they would only need money to pay for their operating costs and their salaries. Profits and huge bonuses are not premitted in non-profit entites, this is why they are so valuable and effective in meeting the needs to people, their focus is on the service they provide an not on profit.

A Public Option, or shall we call it, a Non-Profit Health Insurance Program would be able to offer hhealth care services that are way below what the private health insurance industry can, because they don't have the "high profit margin" or the greed factor to worry about. A non-profit health insurance program would be able to provide high quality health care services at a fraction of the cost of the private health insurance companies. Hence, a non-profit health insurance program would provide for good competition with the private health insurance industry--forcing them to lower their health insurance costs and increase the quality of their services.
THERE IS NO REASON WHY ANYBODY WOULD OPPOSE THE PUBLIC OPTION, EXCEPT THE PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY.

[Beca]

Curious how the same people that are saying "where is the money going to come from for a public option" and those who say "who will pay for this public option" " a public option will cost Americans too much"
are the same people who happily vote for increased allocations (our tax dollars) to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, it's ok to spend our tax dollars and create huge deficits if its to kill people and destroy countries, BUT it is not ok to spend our own tax dollars to provide quality health care for every American?
There is something seriously wrong wiht this picture!!

[ChaSim]

In Germany (Where I live), Public and private insurers compete with each other just fine.

More telling is the European philosophy towards heath care compared to the American one. In Europe, health care is a basic human right, and it's seen as perfectly reasonable for the taxpayer to demand that their government use their tax money to take care of basic human rights like health care. In America, the notion of "I got mine, you gets yours" is the rule.

America's "every man for himself" philosophy will eventually lead to it's socioeconomic downfall.

[frontman9000]

You are so right! I've been saying for years that our "survival of the fittest" metality will eventually lead to the collapse of our society. At the very least, it will lead us to a society much like Dubai where the rich employ slave labor practices and the abilty to be succesful will depend on your social class and background.
After visiting about 10 EU countries, I am quite envious of your way of life and I suspect most Americans would feel the same if given the chance to see for themselves.

[Beca]

You are absolutely right! This is an extraodrinarily selfish country.
When you think that most Americans and members of Congress see no problem with spending trillions of our tax dollars on wars where people are killed and maimed and countries destroyed; But these same Americans and members of Congress have major fits when someone suggests that we spend anything to provide quality health care for every American.

Something has to break soon, this cannot continue. No society can survive on greed and selfishness alone.