Reid: ‘We Are Going to Have a Public Option Before This Bill Goes to the President’s Desk’

Well…..I don’t think we’ll have a health care bill then! It would be political suicide for the bluedog democrats to vote for a bill with the public option included.

We need a single Payer system! Next best Is a PO, if not that then Cost for health Insurance for the Average Middle class will stay out of reach, the result will be a Fine of about $1,900 and a call from the IRS! This Bill without a Public Option (PO) Will be a Complete Nightmare..

Politicians can say anything, but it’s got to be feasible, and Reid is definitely not being feasible.

What about the “Healthy Americans Act” (Wyden-Bennett plan)? It seems like a very well constructed bipartisan solution for health care. Why isn’t it being taken more seriously?

These idiots need to learn from examples of government run health care which has already been tried.
The current systems in the UK and Canada are on the verge of failing due to cost and patient waiting for services.
In this country Maine’s universal coverage plan is most similar to the plans circulating on Capitol Hill with the goal that the states 128,000 uninsured would be covered by 2009, the bureaucracy would be streamlined and health costs lowered, and the plan would fund itself based on system savings with no tax increases. To date it has insured only 3% — roughly 3,400 — of the 128,000 promised and by 2007, the system was so broke that it closed to new enrollees.
Oregon’s state-controlled care includes an official list that dictates what treatments will be covered based on annual budget constraints. If your disease is above the treatment line, you are covered. Below the line — you’re not. However, patients being denied treatment often receive an additional note in their denial letters — the system telling them it will pay for “physician aid in dying.” Oregon won’t help you live, but it will help you die.
Hawaii’s Prepaid Healthcare Act and its coverage mandates have left Hawaiians with fewer coverage choices, higher costs and nearly double the number of uninsured. Recent budget cuts resulted in discontinuation of its coverage for children.
In the three years since the Massachusetts “universal” coverage plan was launched, the state still has thousands of uninsured, costs have exploded to unsustainable levels, and waiting lists for treatments have appeared.
Tennessee’s “TennCare” program, an attempt to expand coverage to low-income uninsured, included dead people, escaped felons and NBA stars. It drove doctors and insurers out of the state, and has been on the brink of insolvency several times.
This is where we are headed with the current plans being passed around Congress. Why are these folks headed down a road which has proven to lead to a worse condition rather than improving the system? They need to learn from others failures and then do something that will do something other than cost money and not improve the overall picture.

When in comes to Health Care Reform we are told it will reduce costs but in order to cover millions of more people our taxes and health care premiums will have to go up. We are told you can keep your insurance, but President Obama and the left wing Democrats want a Public Option passed that will lead to a government run single payer system which they openly admit they prefer. We are told Medicare benefits will not be affected, but a half a trillion in Medicare money is being cut to fund national health care. Immigrants will not be covered, but what’s to stop them. Abortion will not be covered, but actually yes it will. A bipartisan solution is wanted, but every idea the GOP proposes is voted down and by the way the Democrats will ram it down our throats if need be. We are told that there will be more transparency but Congress is voting down a 72 hour public viewing of the bill. And my favorite of all, the mandated penalty is not a tax, but the IRS will collect them, and fine you if you don’t pay.
Given all of the above fibs being told to us by President Obama and the Democrats no wonder so many people are against Health Care Reform because it is becoming very clear that the bill will turn everyone into a loser. Politicians that are for this bill will be voted against in the upcoming election as more and more people realize how many fibs are being told to get this very bad bill passed and how much harm it will do to everyone.

hope…70% of people want reform but not this kind, no public option. If this does pass all dems will be voted out. That is exactly why they want the repub support, but they won’t get it. If they do ram it through it will be on their heads, the rnc is opting out….

“The U.S. Postal Service is broke, Medicare / Medicaid is broke, Social Security is broke, Veterans Administration is broke, Health and Human Services is broke, Food and Drug Administration is broke and many others.
Now we add another government run program that will also go broke, because it doesn’t have funding WHY?”
——————
You purposely left out wall Street. Was it because they were broke that they caused the near crash? I don’t necessarily disagree with your premise that government bureaucracy is not always the best. What I would object to is that we’re mostly selective about the cause of our problems.

If the dems have to sacrifice a few seats to ram it through, so be it. We are tired of the high cost of health care. Some people with insurance don’t want change because they can afford it, but lose their employer back coverage and they’ll be singing the same song as me.

I believe that the best strategy for the Democrats would be to ‘let the Republicans try to filibuster it to death’ on the floor in the Senate. This process will allow all of the truths and fallacies to be fully vetted and separated out before the upcoming elections. Both the Republicans and the Democrats will have been forced to show their hands, who they are, and what they stand for. The people will then vote accordingly in 2010 and on. How it will go who knows anymore? It really depends on the pain threshold of the various voting public.
If Congress goes Republican, then the poor, disadvantaged, and middle class will have to endure many more years of declining or loss of health care until a larger portion of the country is frustrated and angry to the point that the politicians are forced to pass it.
With this strategy, however, the Democrats (at least the liberal ones) cannot be accused of not fighting as hard as they could for the poor, disadvantaged, and middle class.
With Republicans, it boils down to ‘money’ and the continuance of ‘unregulated capitalism’.
With Democrats, it boils down to ‘moral duty’ and the implementation of ‘regulated capitalism’.

Then it should NOT pass.

As far as a level playing field…there are 2 more points I would like to make: 1. After a politician has served the 1 month or 11 terms they should go on Social Security if at the right age instead of getting their paycheck and (medical coverage) for the rest of their lives 2. Age discrimination has been even more impossible to prove with the Supreme Court’s recent rulings. Why? We all know age discrimination on the side of being 50 or older is rampant and has been rampant for decades. This somehow plays into this whole health, SS, employers’ preferences somehow and I acknowledge I am not really smart enough to put forth a good argument But I do think that the Supreme Court Justices should Not have lifetime appointments.

As the parent of a special-needs child, the thought of dealing mainly with the government on issues of coverage and medical necessity frightens the hell out of me. Before you advocate for something, you really should know what you are talking about.

So in other words, democracy goes out the window. I mean I realize that as part of a democracy, we don’t always get our way all the time but I’m kind of tired of hypocritical liberals and their socialist thinking taking over in this country. There are many of us who want something different and our rights and feelings are just as important and valid as anyone elses. This is getting old. The people wanting this have no clue as to the magnitude of what is being proposed. It’s a stupid idea that needs to be re-thought but the liberals are to busy looking down their snouts to look at anything reasonable. Maybe if the majority of us revolted and refused to pay our taxes, it would send a clear message to these stupid people that this is dumb.

$3,000 …. I’d jump on that. I pay $1,037 each month.

Public Option, no public option…It doesn’t matter…Whatever, is in the bill Republicans will vote against it as long as it is sponsored by a Democrat…And, it isn’t in Republican DNA to come up with their own bill that actually improves people’s lives…

jock59801; It’s funny how when the government gets involved with something, the choices fade. It’s bothersome that THE GOVERNMENT it planning to be IN COMPETITION with the fatcats people are looking down their noses at in favor of socialized medicine (that’s what it is no matter what pretty name like option, by the way, the option that we’d still be paying for-we’re now paying for Medicaid and Medicare as well). I’m not opposed to helping the needy in our society. We just need to be smarter about it so that we can go on helping the needy withou all of us becoming needy. The liberals and people under 30 or with the entitlement mentality just seem oblivious to the fact that the money has to come from somewhere. I don’t think most people would object a wisely (not wisely for the people implementing the program) thought out and implemented program other than the way the government has done the current programs. We’re being dumb about this. Wake up and take the cole crap out of your eyes people.

Problem being is that Canadians pay 48% of their income,and in Europe it can run as high as 54%. I for one am not willing to pay that much of my income so some low life loser can have really good health care.Get a job,get an education,get a life and get off the governments handout program.

What about single-payer food?! Food is a right. It’s immoral for private companies to profit from peoples’ need to eat. The government should provide free food to all and decide what we can eat and how much!

Marine Vet – You said “The government runs the military, fire departments, police departments, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. just fine.”
First off fire and police are NOT run by the federal government, they are run by local governments and the majority of their funding comes through property taxes, local sales taxes, and local income taxes. Using them as examples of government run programs in your statement is totally incorrect.
Medicaid is a joint Federal State run program where the federal government puts up a portion of the funding and the state through its taxation (mainly income or sales taxes) puts up the remainder. This is one of the problems in the current plans being pushed through Congress, the plans call for increased enrollment in Medicaid while only providing the federal portion of the increased cost. This is a hidden tax which we the taxpayers will be surprised with as the states (many of which are strapped for cash right now) will have to increase their revenues to meet this unfunded mandate by the federal government. This is a cost which is NOT addressed in the current bills as it is the responsibility of the states to fund so doesn’t count towards the overall cost of the legislation as far as Congress is concerned.
When Medicare was created in 1965, benefits were relatively limited and retirees paid a substantial percentage of the costs of their own care. In 1965, Congressional actuaries expected Medicare to cost $3.1 billion by 1970. In 1969, that estimate was revised to $5 billion, and it actually came in at $6.8 billion. Things have gotten worse since, and Medicare today costs $455 billion and rising. Medicare has a projected unfunded liability (the difference between the benefits that have been promised to current and future retirees and what will be collected in dedicated taxes and Medicare premiums) over the next 75 years of 32,000,000,000,000.00 (32 Trillion) dollars if everything remains as it currently is.
The debt of the federal government is currently $ 7,505,894,097,177.82 and increasing daily. Unfortunately the Executive and Legislative branches of our government have relied on borrowing money to balance the federal budget for over fifty years, we cannot run our households in this manner why can the federal government. At this rate of spending (which will once again see a large increase with the current bills floating around in Congress) we will soon reach a point where 50% of the annual budget will be for nothing more than to pay the interest on the federal debt. It is time for the federal government to learn responsible fiscal habits and reduce the debt of the government so that we will have funds in the budget for something other than paying interest on the debt. The last administration to actually reduce the debt of the government was that of Herbert Hoover in 1933, others have claimed to have left office with a budget surplus but that is misleading as the surplus was actually not spending all that they had borrowed so in effect the debt increased.
I won’t argue that we don’t need reform of some kind but the plans put forth so far do not appear to be the reform which is needed. The CBO which is a non-partisan organization (headed by an Obama appointee) has yet to bless any of the bills as not causing an increase in the debt of the government and has even gone so far as to say that none of the bills evaluated will cause a reduction in the cost of health care. Perhaps rather than blundering around in the dark Congress should get with these folk and see if they can’t find out why the CBO says it will increase the debt and then work with the CBO to write legislation which will not increase the debt. They should work together and achieve the same results for ensuring that the cost is also reduced. They also need to look at the failed/failing programs currently in place at the state level Hawaii, Tennessee, Maine, Massachusetts, and Oregon all have state run health care programs which have massive problems and are not operating as they were designed. Additionally the incoming Surgeon General equivalent in Canada has already stated that their present health care program has problems and needs reform so once again look at what went wrong and see if there is a way to make it work or maybe the truth is something they don’t want to admit, health care reform with a “public option” is a program which is never going to be self sustaining unless it is recognized by all that there have to be limits on the benefits paid out or the program will go broke on it own.

I love this debate on health care, First we are told there are 45mm American without healthcare, then we find out its more like 9 mm, then the government changes the definition to sometimes without healthcare and the number rises again. So lets just use some common sense, when something is free as it would be for most Americans as the intent of the Obama administration is to get Peter to pay for Paul, the cost to those individuals would be subsidized (essentially not paying their fair share) subsidized systems get overused by participants causing costs to rise demonstrably. So lets assume the current healthplan purchased by American families is 12,000 per year and despite all evidence of government run programs cost overruns the government succeeds at cutting 20% of the cost to 10k..Overuse would actually cause the cost to rise above this dollar per unit of service. How much no one knows but we can see the effects of some subsidies…Look at the postoffice…subsidies have actually caused the postal service to operate at such a deficit that it is seeking price increases at 3 times the rate of inflation…..sounds a little like healthcare costs now, huh. The US needs to stop looking for a messiah in its government and find it in the individuals themselves.
Pick yourself up, pass legislation that precludes preexisting condition discrimination and create a tax credit equal to free healthcare for those who can keep their body mass index low. Beyond that leave the system alone. Eventually the heavier of our citizens would slim down, cancer rates, heart disease and diabetes would decline. These are the problem diseases that most affect our healthcare costs. Encourage the country to go on a diet…maybe instead of a great american smokeout we could have the great american fasting. Obesity kills more people than smoking, hands down!

Ask the MORON, Harry Reid, how much he pays for health care. He has access to the very finest care on the planet for $503.00 PER YEAR! And their rate hasn’t changed in 17 years! These Washington PARASITES are clueless and out of touch and we have to fire their sorry butts and send them packing! Starting in 2010 and continuing until the stench is gone from the Halls of Congress!

Get ready for 25% unemployment. Putting this crap on the backs of stuggling businesses like mine will destroy hard working business owners. My 150 employees will lose their jobs when I go bankrupt. Morons. They really think money grows on trees. Fools

Wake up America, people only care if it sounds good. Look at the detail and think of the ramifications. It will be nothing short of devastating.

Id like to see what would happen if it was made illegal for private insurance companies to cover anyone who was healthy or under age 65. they would forced to take everyone 65 and older and all disabled people.
medicare would be required to take care of all the ‘under 65 and mostly healthy’ crowd.
Then we will see how well private insurance companies can do.
If you think thats unfair then why do you EVER have the audacity to talk about Medicares budget problems.

I will NOT vote democratic again if there is a public option.
A public option will be a disaster and force our nation into bankruptcy. it does nto control costs.

ErnestNM – How can you have faith in the government which as of 1 October had an OUTSTANDING debt of $11,920,519,164,319.42. The annual interest alone on this debt is rapidly approaching 50% of the annual federal budget. For the federal government to take on another program such as health care or for that matter any new program which according to the CBO WILL NOT cause a decrease in the debt or reduce costs is nothing but total fiscal irresponsibility.
Do you continuously borrow money each year (the federal government has done it for decades) to support your personal life? Or, do you act as most responsible folks in this country and pay the principal down on your debts and only spend what you have coming in as your income? For decades the federal government has been overspending and unfortunately the consequences are catching up with us. This is a problem that responsible politicians would have addressed decades ago instead of continuing with a policy which is financially unsustainable.
When they can come up with something which will reduce the cost of health care, add nothing to the debt, contain no unfunded mandates on the states, and the CBO blesses the legislation as something positive then I’ll be for it. However the current bills being passed around do none of this and only add to the debt of this country and according to the CBO will not reduce the actual cost of health care.
I look at government as an entity which has yet to prove its ability. Do you remember why the Department of Energy was created during the Carter administration? The major reason was to reduce the countries dependence on foreign oil. The government has spent unknown resources on this one department and have they accomplished their goal in the past three decades? NO, we are still dependant on foreign oil. Another fine example of why government CANNOT successfully run health care.

By Senator Reid’s standard, there will be NO Health Care Bill going to the President’s Desk for signature, as the Senate doesn’t have the votes and I don’t think they will at the end of the day. If they do get the votes and force a public option, they will pay politically for lying to the American People…including the President, if he signs it into law. What is the “lie?”…simple: Democrats who advocate the Public Option said it would create competition with private insurers to lower cost, when in fact it will ELIMINATE private insurance (as they cannot compete with a government backed health care plan; they have to MAKE money, while the government has to SPEND money…our money!)…and the President would have lied about those who have private insurance can keep their insurance (how do you keep something that no longer exists?!). Democrats better be careful for what they wish for, because if they get their way, they will get bounced out of power for lying on this issue, creating massive debts that future generations can’t possibly pay off, not supporting our field commanders (as promised) when they justify the need for troops, and weakening our defenses against terror attacks. Republicans just need a new leader to emerge and run for President and they will be back in control.
Democrats need to stop relying on hope and fantasy, because they are no longer out of power…they must think about the benefits and consequences in “real terms” if they are going to survive 2010 and 2012.

Would someone please remind Reid that the US is NOT Socialist?

If Reid choose to adopt the public option version of the bill, his chance of getting reelected next year by Nevada voters will be down to zero, as with many blue dog senators.

*My original response was not posted, but hopefully this one will be…
ErnestNM: If Democrats have a “filibuster proof” majority in the Senate, how can you blame them for preventing the passage of THEIR health care bill? If there is a filibuster, it is because some Democrats (who want nothing more than to support passage of health care reform for President Obama and their party) understand the consequences and don’t support a plan that has a “Public Option,” which wouldn’t create competition and lower health care costs; instead, it will eliminate competition! How? Because there is a fundamental difference between Private Insurance Companies and the Government (who would be backing the public option). Private Insurance Companies must MAKE money in order to stay in business…the Government has to SPEND money (OUR money!) and have no fear of going out of business. The Public Option can lower costs below profitability and back the outstanding balance with taxpayer money. Private Insurance Companies will not be able to match the low cost of Public Insurance, especially since they will be required by law to accept people with Pre-existing Conditions (many of whom have long-term, expensive health care needs), and will be forced out of business…thus leading to the real goal, Socialized Medicine, which will be profitable for politicians and their Special Interest Groups, but bad for Americans. Oh, by the way, Democrats will have LIED to Americans by not creating competition and the President will have lied (if he signs the measure into law) about those who have insurance being able to keep what they have (as you can’t keep what no longer exists).
I know you politically partisan to supporting Democrats, so my efforts may be wasted on you, but others need to know the truth and understand that BOTH parties are united in a common goal, which is to keep the American people divided. Since most Americans define themselves as Republican or Democrat, they are clearing winning the battle…at OUR expense. Neither party acts on behalf of the American people and if you haven’t figured that out by now, you clearly don’t know much about American politics, or common sense.

Gary -
I believe you are right about a majority of Congresspersons not having the interests of American citizens on their minds. You propose that some democrats are against a public option becuase they know it will be bad for Americans. You suggest that Republicans are on the right side of this.
You seem to think that a strong public insurance CHOICE is an enemy to the people. you think it will undercut private insurance companies which will force them out of business.
Does that mean that you agree that a government run public insurance CHOICE would be CHEAPER for most Americans than private insurance?
You couldnt be suggesting that people would voluntarily choose an option that was worse for them. that wouldnt make any sense.
What would make sense is that if the public insurance CHOICE was a good prgram and people liked it and they chose it then the private insurance companies would have to do better to keep their customers.
So I ask you…Where is the problem?
What is wrong with that?
If the public option is good and cheaper and does a good job at providing basic coverage at a good price then people will choose it.
Why is that bad?
Do you want better prices on good healthcare or not?
Im on Medicare and it does fine. If we were more efficient with our money as a society then we could improve Medicare.
If everyone in our society was on medicare (Medicare for all — single payer) — including and especially the politicians — then it would be a pretty good prgram.
I hope you realize soon that the Republicans and blue dogs are only looking out for the interests of the big insurance companies. If what I think will happen actually does then you will get a very weak inneffective public option that no one will want or care about.
you see, the flaw in your thinking is that the public option willbe so bad that no one will want it but at the very same time it will drive private insurance out of business.
Thats not possible.
If people choose it becuase its good and affordable (which is what we all want isnt it???) the it WILL bring down healthcare costs.
If its weak and inneffective then no one will choose it and will not at all compete with private insurance and it will die.
The Republicans want the Baucus bill passed. Its exactlt what they would do.
Its exactly what they DID do with medicare part D.
If it doesnt have a strong public option, my hope is that no democrats vote for it. i hope the Republicans do filibuster it. they cremated the previous filibuster record last year. they doubled it.
They really cant lose. If they stop it, they get the status quo which is what they want. If the Baucus bill or some weakened public option bill passes along with a mandate for private insurance companies to be given millions of new customers then they also win.
Its going to take people like yourselves to get smarter about what is going on in this country and just whose side the Republicans are actually on.
Its not YOURS!

Dave – You said “Im on Medicare and it does fine. If we were more efficient with our money as a society then we could improve Medicare.”
As a end user of Medicare you may not see a problem and think evrything is OK with the program, but the real problem is the unfunded liability (benifits promised but yet to be funded) that the program has. The unfunded liability is the reason that Medicare is expected to go belly up (broke) in the next few years (actual number varies with the source but all agree that it is under 20).

Today, October 04, 2009, 2 hours ago | Gary
…ErnestNM: If Democrats have a “filibuster proof” majority in the Senate, how can you blame them for preventing the passage of THEIR health care bill? If there is a filibuster, it is because some Democrats (who want nothing more than to support passage of health care reform for President Obama and their party) understand the consequences and don’t support a plan that has a “Public Option,” which wouldn’t create competition and lower health care costs; instead, it will eliminate competition!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Everyone is well aware of the ‘blue dogs’, the ‘bought’ Democrats (heavily financed and lobbied by the Insurance Companies), and the uncertainty of ‘cloture’.
How many of them are essentially ‘bought off’ by the insurance industry is what a path to filibuster and possible final floor vote would reveal.
And, everyone is well aware that the reason that competition would not be eliminated with the presence of a public option is because the more expensive private health insurance would still be much more desirable due to the extra benefits it would offer.
People who can afford it will still prefer it. People who cannot afford it will have the public insurance.

Sandcrab -
Our entire country is already broke.
But if youwant to attack Medicare for not doing enough with its money then I would think it completely fair to reverse the roles of Medicare and private insurance and see how well those private insurance companies do when they are the ones required to take care of everyone over 65 and all the disabled people.
Medicare on the other hand would do what private insurance does now — they cherry pick healthy people. they wouldnt cover anyone with too many health problems. they would drop people when they got to sick and therefore too expensive. and they wouldnt cover people over 65. The law would require that private insurance pay all the bills until they went broke and then maybe Medicare would step in.
Then you could talk to me about Medicare going broke.
and BTW -
-the CBO says the public option wouldnt attract many people and THEREFORE it would not lower healthcare costs becasue it wouldnt provide much competition for the private insurance market which basically has a monopoly on healthcare right now.
-the Lewin Group and Commonwealthfund both say that the public option WOULD be popular and therefore WOULD reduce healthcare costs.
It all depends on how well constructed the programs are and how popular they are.
If people choose a strong public option becuase it is agood and affordable program then it will lower healthcare costs for everyone.

Dave: I don’t think you understand how the public option will be implemented. See, those who HAVE insurance CANNOT choose the public option, or another health insurance option other than the one they have. The Government-backed public option will be MADE affordable, regardless of the actual health care costs, so there will always be cost overruns in the billions that the taxpayer will cover; overruns that the private insurance companies won’t get backed to compete. As businesses drop their health insurance, forcing millions to go to the public option (meaning they won’t be able to keep their health insurance…even though the President said they could) and Insurance companies will gradually be eliminated. Why is this bad, because we will be left with Socialized Medicine and that will mean ‘too many patience, not enough facilities and doctors to handle them’ and the long lines for all kinds of care will be long…sometimes deadly. The elite will still get preferential treatment from private physicians, but the rest of us will not. You’ll learn to regret it, if it ever comes to pass.

B.Bone:
Harry Reid has a bone sticking out
of his head.
If Reid and the Democrats are
dumb enough to ram thriugh a
healthcare bill with a public option
or the trojan horse public option,
co-ops, they are D.O.A in 2012!
Poll after poll show that 60 percent
of the American People do not want
a public option in the bill!