Obama ready to abandon public option
The Huffington Post reported today
Bowing to Republican pressure, President Barack Obama’s administration signaled on Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system.
Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession probably would enrage Obama’s liberal supporters but could deliver a much-needed victory on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.
Officials from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind when they returned to their districts for an August recess. Obama had sought the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation’s almost 50 million uninsured, but he never made it a deal breaker in a broad set of ideas that has Republicans unified in opposition.
This news really dismays me.
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.
Under a proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private industry, not unlike the way electric and agriculture co-ops operate, especially in rural states such as his own.
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.
Sebelius said the end-of-life proposal was likely to be dropped from the final bill.
“We wanted to make sure doctors were reimbursed for that very important consultation if family members chose to make it, and instead it’s been turned into this scare tactic and probably will be off the table,” she said.
Frankly I am really disappointed. It appears the Obama administration is caving in to the Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industries who have fought against the reform from day 1. I’m disappointed in the Senate as well. I would have hoped that the Senators would have realized what the 2008 election for change meant to us ordinary people out here. Guess not. They certainly seem to understand what change means to their financial benefactors—big corporations–who steadily keep campaign contributions flowing to them. The House listened and passed from Committee HR 3200. God knows what the full house will do when they vote.
I’m confused and disgusted. Democrats control the Senate, House, and White House yet fold on the most major piece of legislation in history.
I assign the core of the blame on the Senate. With 60 votes they could pass the bill, with the public option, yes even with single-payer healthcare. The House has far more Democratic votes than the Senate. I gives me no concern whatsoever that passing healthcare reform with a single-payer public option would be without bipartisan support. The Republican Leadership pulled a cool move in getting the Congress to take August off rather than stay with it and pass the reform. It would be, it seems to me, the right thing to do for the American people, particularly those 50 million uninsured.
It makes me pause and make a decision as to how I want to proceed forward. I feel so betrayed, and sold out by the Democrats. Makes me wonder why I spent all that time during the 2008 campaign working so hard for change.
It is going to take me some time to sort it all out. I’m just sick to my stomach.
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