Obama’s Retreat: The Public Option Is Dead
The white flag rises...
Frankly, for us on the right, this was by far the most important victory to be had.
Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota basically confirmed the end of the fight over the public option, stating that it had no chance to pass the Senate. He said it was futile to continue to “chase that rabbit” due to the lack of 60 Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster. “The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for a public option. There never have been,” Conrad said on “Fox News Sunday.” Conrad, who himself is somewhat opposed to the public option, has written his own bill with Republicans (known as the ‘Gang of 6′) that bases much of its provisions for health care provided through co-ops that would be privately run, possibly with seed money from the federal government. With $3 billion to $4 billion in initial support from the government, the co-ops would operate under a national structure with state affiliates, but independent of the government. They would be required to maintain the type of financial reserves that private companies are required to keep in case of unexpectedly high claims. Co-ops have long been one of the ideas proposed by conservatives, and as recently as 2004 was proposed by the Bush White House as a possible solution.
To further press the point, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that government alternative to private health insurance is “not the essential element” of the administration’s health care overhaul. The White House would be open to co-ops, she said, a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory. The White House tried to back off that statement late on Sunday…but it is difficult when the Big Man states something similar. Obama, himself, was backing away from it on Saturday. “All I’m saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don’t have it, is not the entirety of health care reform,” Obama said at a town hall meeting in Grand Junction, Colo. “This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it.” Not exactly a glowing endorsement…
Problem for the President is that many on his side of the aisle won’t look at a compromise plan without a public option as a victory. Many far left liberals have as their primary goal for health care a public option. This has been so much of a target for progressives that they have spent over $1 million in the last month attacking moderate Democrats for waivering on the public option. If the White House is backing away from it, it would be a major defeat for the liberal wing of the party…or as Howard Dean likes to call it, the “Democratic wing of the Democrat Party”. And with the White House playing damage control on whether or not they have backed away from the public option, we can again see that Obama has no backbone to stand up to the extreme wing of his own party…again showing the country that he is not the post-partisan that he keeps claiming to be.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, said it would be difficult to pass any legislation through the Democratic-controlled Congress without the promised public plan. “We’ll have the same number of people uninsured,” she said. “If the insurance companies wanted to insure these people now, they’d be insured.” She added that “an option that would give the private insurance companies a little competition” is “the only way” to be sure that insurance is available to low-income people and people without employer-provided coverage.
There is some irony on the timing of this. This week, the incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says Canada’s health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it. “We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize,” Doing said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Dr. Robert Ouellet, the current president of the CMA, who has said there’s a critical need to make Canada’s health-care system patient-centred. He will present details from his fact-finding trip to Europe in January, where he met with health groups in England, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and France. Ouellet has been saying since his return that “a health-care revolution has passed us by,” that it’s possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and “that competition should be welcomed, not feared.”
In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system. So as America has been moving closer to a public payer system…Canada appears poised to be moving to a more private payer system. Irony has no bounds.
I foresee a huge battle on the left on this. The Liberal Blogosphere is already having a seizure. This has been the bulwark of the progressive movement since Franklin D. Roosevelt. And understand: with huge majorities in Congress and total control of the White House, Democrats will never be in a better position to get the public option. Never. If Obama backs away from this central liberal belief, I wonder how many liberals will wonder if Obama’s election was worth it. Remember, Hillary Clinton has basically promised a public option system. She was the alternative. And liberals may finally understand that they may have missed their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enact a program on the same or larger scale as Social Security. It is going to get ugly on the left side of the aisle.
As for conservatives, it is time to jump on the bandwagon. Co-ops can be an excellent way to approach how to get universal care in this country. It is no magic bullet, but it has worked when done right. I will have a larger piece on the benefits and risks to co-operatives. That said, it is a free market solution, with individual rights maintained, and would limit the risk of government rationing significantly.
Additionally, this is not the time to stand still. Republicans must stay on the offensive, pushing policies we feel will best promote better health care by utilizing free market efforts. We need to keep pushing for a private industry option that will achieve our common goals. I am sure, despite their clear defeat, liberals will keep pushing…and we must keep pushing back. Don’t trust that liberals will fade quietly into the night.
So, the health care war is not over. The fight goes on. But spend a quick moment to enjoy claiming one small victory for the Right.
to those who claim we already have the greatest med care in the world
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics says in a report that the U.S. ranks 29th worldwide in infant mortality. This has the U.S. worsening its ranking tying with Slovakia and Poland but falling behind Cuba. In 1960 the U.S. came in at 12th place and it was ranked 27th in 2004, while Japan which is ranked third has an infant mortality rate of less than half the U.S. at 2.8 per thousand live births.
Marian F. MacDorman, PhD, and T.J. Mathews, CDC researchers said, “The U.S. infant mortality rate is higher than rates in most other developed countries. The relative position of the United States in comparison to countries with the lowest infant mortality rates appears to be worsening.”
Infant mortality is an indicator of the health in the country and in the U.S. it is at 6.78 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. The data collected through the National Vital Statistics System showed that more than 28,000 American babies die before their first birthday. The countries which came out on the top of the list were Singapore in first place with a mortality rate of 2.0, followed by Hong Kong at 2.5 and Japan came in third at 2.8.
Life expectancy in the U.S. is exceeded by the rates in 41 other countries, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports. The U.S. has been slipping for decades in international rankings of life expectancies as other countries are improving health care, nutrition and lifestyles, according to the AP/Daily Star. Countries that rank above the U.S. include Japan, most of Europe, Jordan and the Cayman Islands. A U.S. resident born in 2004 has a life expectancy of 77.9 years, placing the U.S. in 42nd place, down from 11th place two decades ago.
Has Medicare improved life expectancy? Prevention? Anything else? Because as far as I remember…it is a government program…
Medicare is limited to the elderly and special cases of diability. Young pregnant women are probably least likely to have medical insurance…Medicaid available to the poorest…but exorbitant premiums for many young workers. Dan’s point is well documented. Where is the evidence that we have “the best health care system in the world”? Or rather, what is the criteria for judging that? Spectacular technological interventions that save the wealthy ill? General care for all? Perhaps that needs to become part of the discussion.
As for private health insurance co-ops…these aren’t new. SCEET in Southern California appears to be an example of this idea but had no better luck in negotiating reasonable, affordable health care than anyone else did. Demanding insurance for all gives insurance companies a free pass unless there is additional regulation or competition from another (probably public)insurance provider.
[...] NEOAVATARA: Obama’s Retreat: The Public Option Is Dead [...]
[...] NEOAVATARA: Obama’s Retreat: The Public Option Is Dead [...]
Yes, but in the past state regulations often caused too many hurdles for co-ops. Federal regulatory changes can change that. Yes, regulation is needed: we need to give access to those with pre-existing conditions. We need to make sure insurance will be there when people need it. Yes, we need some federal regulation. But this is a reasonable middle ground.
Once again the Public well being has been Co-oped by Big Business whether its the Big Insurance Companies Or the Big Banks Whoever has the money to bombard the airways with commericals gets what they want. Truth no longer matters.
Like the truth that pro-Obamacare forces are spending 5 times what the anti-health care forces are spending?
They ruin almost everything they touch while providing jobs for their ‘big friends’ yet so many of the hand out crowd loves the ‘big government’. Sure there are many things that can be tweaked but to let this wrecking crew touch anything else would be a disaster.
No argument that health care and health care insurance needs reform but come on! The evidence we have the best system in the world is that everybody worldwide flocks to us for medical care their own countries can’t provide or can’t provide in a timely manner. Dan, be careful of statistics when comparing countries that don’t have similar reporting capabilities or different types of government. Our country loses thousands of young men and some young women from war. How many did Switzerland or Canada lose? Common sense should prevail in these matters. In no way, shape, or form is our system take second place to any other. Our mores and our social makeup in big cities, accepted behavior as far as sexual conduct and repurcussions of one’s actions, the increased ignorance and lack of education of poor people in urban areas, abortions, our sheer numbers, etc. all affect those statistics. I had a son with leukemia, was willing to go anywhere in the world to get him the best care, and finally spoke with a leader in that field in Germany. He told me that if possible, to get him to Boston, my own back yard.
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