Santorum: Republicans Might Like Latest Compromise on Public Option More Than Democrats
EmailABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Details are sketchy about the latest Senate compromise on the public option, involving the creation of a non-profit insurance exchange modeled on the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan. But Republicans may like what they see even more than Democrats, former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., told us on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today.
“As a matter of fact, … most of the Republican alternatives actually are modeled after the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan,” Santorum said. “I don’t think Republicans have a problem with a plan if you’re going to have the government pay — which is what the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan is — as long as it’s a private-sector system.”
It’s not yet clear whether all Democrats will be on board for the compromise now being hammered out by a group of 10 Senate moderates — and liberals’ buy-in is not assured.
“These are things that Republicans have argued for. And so for the Democrats to come and say, ‘Well, this is the public option’ — I don’t see too many on the left signing on to that,” Santorum said.
On Afghanistan, Santorum criticized President Obama for offering a date by which troop withdrawals will begin: “All I would suggest is that — you know, maybe some of your folks who are listening can answer this question: Name me a time in the history of the world where one of the warring parties has announced in advance that they were leaving and were going to end the war at a certain time and won the war?”
(If you want to offer any such suggestions, the comments field is open below, or you can respond via Twitter @thenote.)
Santorum also told us that he’s “absolutely taking a look” at running for president in 2012. He also declined to say whether he thinks former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is qualified to be president.
Watch the interview with Sen. Santorum HERE. We also chatted with Michelle Cottle, a senior editor at The New Republic, about the latest on the story of the White House party crashers, the health care debate, plus Sarah Palin’s presidential prospects.
You can watch that portion of today’s “Top Line” HERE.
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If congress had to use the same health insurance as the rest of us you would see a bill that would be good for all of us not just the few who cant afford or wont buy insurance without it being mandatory
Posted by: earl | December 7, 2009, 7:11 pm 7:11 pm
If OPM were to use a “Public Option” which is similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) used by all Federal Employees and Congressmen it would require little work on the part of the government and it would satisfy Obama’s statement that “Congressmen have good health insurance and everyone should have access to the same insurance”. Contrary to what many believe Congressmen do not have FREE health insurance. Their employer is the federal government and like many employers, through FEHB it provides him and all federal employees with access to an insurance plan from a private insurance company (AETNA, Blue Cross, Health Net, Kaiser, etc). Congressmen have been required to get their health insurance in this manner since passage of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1983. The Congressman is responsible for any co-pays or deductable payments when service is provided by a healthcare provider. The Congressman is also susceptible to the limits within the plan he chooses, none of the plans cover 100% of the costs and the insured eventually reaches a point where he has to dig into his own pockets. OPM’s main involvement with the FEHB is to negotiate rates and benefits for each plan once a year. If you want to view the plans and their limits, deductibles, and co-pays just Google “FEHB” and go to the site and see what the different plans are.
The FEHB health plans are either nationwide (plan available anywhere within the country) or regional (plan available only in one state or a portion of a state) FEHB allows the Congressman to change between plans once a year during what is referred to as an open season and he can switch with no lapse in coverage due to pre-existing conditions and if he changes jobs within the Federal Government he can take his current plan with him if the plan is available (he moved from one region to another) at his new position, if not he can switch with no problems. If the government were to allow a pool of similar plans to the public the monthly premiums (based on the FEHB rate) for a family plan would roughly be between $425.00 and $1300.00, for an individual the monthly premium would roughly be between $177.00 and $550.00 and then everyone could have the same health care as our Congressmen. These rates would be lower if an employer were to choose to pay a portion of the health insurance as an employment benefit but it must also be realized that if employers are forced to pay for health insurance then wages will likely decrease or unemployment may rise to compensate for the added expense of the employer. One of the differences in the plan costs is the level of benefits provided and the amount the patient pays (co-pays or deductable) when receiving healthcare.
This would give everyone access to the same health insurance available to Congressmen. The government would not be subsidizing the insurance program as all enrolled in the program would be responsible for paying their premium and co-pay/deductable when medical services are provided. Let’s face it, with the unfunded liabilities of Medicare and Social Security when coupled with the debt of the Federal Government there is no way that the government can realistically fund/subsidize health insurance for the populace.
Posted by: Sandcrab1612 | December 8, 2009, 1:35 pm 1:35 pm