Obama admin. secretly bargained away the public option

[ellenrr]

The corporate media obsesses over the Obamacare website yet ignores Obama's shady backroom destruction of the public option.

The corporate media provides incessant superficial coverage of the Obamacare website, all the while ignoring both the successes and the truly legitimate criticisms of the Affordable Care Act.

The Medicaid (public option for the poor) expansion part of Obamacare is a success.
444,000 new people have signed up.

[Heather MC]

1. We knew this :-(

We knew the public option got scraped almost immediately. Because back then the President would do annoying things like come to a negotiation and start by giving the repukes what they wanted and then they would chip away more.

Many of us were and still are livid about that.

We have often said, the president gave them everything the pukes wanted and still no republican voted for the ACA.

This reporter maybe trying to sensationalize this, but anyone who's been paying attention from the beginning. This is not a shocker, sadly

And she is wrong, I hear plenty of Reporters say, the problem would be solved with a single payer option, or hopefully "this will open the door for a single payer option"

As she pointed out, With the single payer option included, It would not have gotten 60 votes.

So from where I am sitting the fault lies with the ahole repukes once again. They don't want anything in America to work right.

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. Yes ...

Back then, President Obama did really annoying things like being able to count. Where do you get that the ACA would have gotten 60 votes in the Senate with a public option? I can name four Senators in the Democratic Caucus that are on record as opposing the public option.

Now, what I would have loved to see is for those states that refused to set up their own exchange, the Fed should have included a public option in those markets ... and I don't understand why they didn't? But there is probably a reason that only Vermont (to my knowledge) has set up a public option in their exchange.

[Heather MC]

4. I think you miss read my post I said

"As she pointed out, With the single payer option included, It would not have gotten 60 votes."

I am confident as the law goes forward it will be expanded. After all it is the Government
it has a tendacy to stumble forward. it's never pretty but we do move forward

[karynnj]

8. Even a public option being included (which is not the same as a single payer system), it would not

get 60 votes. To get 60 votes, you needed 100% of the Democrats. There was more than one against it who were persuadable.

[tblue37]

14. Lieberdweeb would have shot it down for sure--he SAID he would. nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

9. Yes ...

I did mis-read your post. My bad.

[Heather MC]

11. don't do that to me, it doesn't take much to make me think I'm going crazy

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. Sorry n/t

[DireStrike]

13. "60 votes"

Basically saying that 9 or 10 Democrats would rather filibuster their party's own initiative than even vote for cloture. 9 or 10 democrats suddenly agreed with the republican rule that democratic legislation needs 60 votes to pass. Very convenient.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. The NY Times reported on this when it happened nt

[marble falls]

7. The upside - meager as it is - is that the thrid way works when the other options don't. We let.....

ourselves down in 2010 by staying away from the polls while the Teapublicans and teabillies bused their voters there. But I think there will be a single payer system eventually because the President does know how to count and craft his plans to get the most of what he wants when he can.

And like you've pointed out, if we drop the ball again in 2014 there will be more third way compromises to bitch about.

[bigdarryl]

5. Thats what happens when you try to be a CORPORATE DEMOCRAT

He though he would get republican support if he used the Heritage Foundations plan.I like what Mark Thompson always say about this Administration They have rabbit ears for the republicans.

[Doctor_J]

6. I didn't think it was a secret

the SP and PO advocates were locked out, and the admin bragged about it.

[blkmusclmachine]

10. Hate to say it, but this one really is old news. But still worth reflecting on, given O's other

noxious "bi-partisan" gifts to the GOP in the intervening years.