As debate continues on much needed health care reform, I urge my Senate colleagues to support a robust public option plan. It's important that the President's ideas on the public option be implemented to maintain a level playing field.
The public option will create competition in the marketplace and will help to provide affordable choices for American families. It will also allow us to greatly expand the number of Americans with health insurance, and that is an imperative.
When President Obama's call for health care reform came under right wing attack this summer, as millions saw in my well-publicized Health Care Town Hall meetings, I pushed back at the critics in order to set the record straight about the direction of health care reform.
As competing bills come up for votes in the Senate, here's the type of bill I'm for:
The bottom line is that Americans have a right to be healthy and stay healthy. As I've done throughout my career, I will continue to push for better health care for all Americans.
You claim to support a bill that is deficit neutral. Many of us are wary of this kind of bill even being possible. It has been claimed many times that the cost of a universal or public option will be offset by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare. If you are really capable of eliminating BILLIONS of dollars worth of waste, fraud, and abuse, it is a serious crime that you have not already done so.
Here's a suggestion: go ahead and eliminate the waste, fraud, and abuse before you do anything else. Put the money in the bank and show the American people the balance sheet. Once you've proven to us that you really can save this money, then we'll talk about spending it on a public option, but not before.
Eliminating waste is a valid goal, but involves several tracks, as there are at least two kinds of waste. First, there is waste due to the lack of a single format for exchange of medical data. This began to be addressed with HIPAA and is still being implemented across the industry. Second is waste due to fraud and criminal activity; the current system makes the fines resulting from massive fraud just part of the cost of doing business. Implementing criminal penalties for companies that engage in illegal practices would go a long way to fixing this.
As the Mad As Hell Doctors say:
The "public option" is doomed.
First: we will still have a dysfunctional health care system designed around insurance companies.
Second: it will be impossible to cover everyone without raising taxes. The Obama administration is already saying it is acceptable to leave out 15 million people. Which 15 million? Will you be one of them? Who gets to decide?
Third: in a "post-option" environment you can bet that the health insurance industry will manipulate the rules so that the sickest, most expensive patients will gravitate toward the public plan, which will cause it to fail. When it does, the opponents of real reform will point to the "public option" and scream: "See! Single Payer won't work!"
http://www.madashelldoctors.com
You might consider reminding your fellow Senators, that if you were not insured by your position, you would be uninsurable in the private market. Considering most of the Senators are over 60 and unless they have never had any ailments, they too would be unable to find insurance on their own. And then imagine having to wait for 4 years for a public option to kick in and then finding out it is only available to 5% of the public if the lobbyists don't figure out how to kill it off all together.
all I would ask that you add to your list is a bill with a robust public option that also
-- repeals the exemption from the Federal Anti-trust legislation that was granted to the Health Insurance Industry by the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945
That anti-trust exemption has facilitated regional monopolies which means no real competition.
That Act allows states to regulate the insurance business instead of the federal government, but also allows that, as long as the state regulates the industry, federal anti-trust laws would not apply.
Two Senators Schumer and Leahy have a bill to change that exemption.
Please review their bill and include it in your list.
I am so glad that you joined the Democratic Party, leaving behind the corrupted (false) neo-conservative Grasping Old Party, which is now just the party of trying to undo the majority election results. It seems to have abandoned all that was good about it in the Eisenhower era.
Thanks for your service to our country.
These groups who profit at the federal trough albeit indirectly have no right to oppose a PUBLIC option and in fact should by rights be vocal proponents out of respect and gratitude for the enormous federal government taxpayer dollar underwriting they enjoy!!!
A public option available to everyone to keep private insurers from driving up premiums at will.
A public option available in not six year, not four years, but in one year fashioned on Medicare.
Just one question: who do you think SHOULD be vice president right at this moment?
Thanks.
there is no right to life
"a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth"
glenn beck
information czar fox news
the view 5/20/09
"I'm for a bill which will bring mandatory sentences for Medicare and Medicaid fraud because it will be a deterrent as opposed to fines"
There is very, very little fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. The right would have you believe differently. Their lies about health care reform, including this one, just makes it that much more difficult for patients to get the needed treatment and medications that they desperately need.
Even former President NIXON tried to get National Healthcare passed in 1974! So, why are republicans fighting affordable healthcare for all Americans? NIXON FOR GODSAKE!
Also, Teddy Rooselvelt wanted affordable healthcare for everyone
It is not alright to have thousands of people die in America every few minutes from a lack of healthcare based on money!
WE NEED A PUBLIC OPTION TO KEEP THE INSURANCE COMPANIES HONEST! Being dictated to by for profit insurance companies who have allowed people to die so their ceo's make outrageous and immoral bonuses is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Representatives and Senators in Washington should give up their SOCIALIZED healthcare paid for by taxpayers until we, the taxpayers have an AFFORDABLE PUBLIC OPTION! We're tired of the hypocrisy in Washington.
Specter actually needs to retire and let Sestak win his seat. We need more Sestaks and less Specters.