Pelosi Stands By Public Option: We Won’t Pass The ‘Private Insurance Profit Perpetuation Act’

[kpete]

Source: Think Progress

Pelosi Stands By Public Option: We Won’t Pass The ‘Private Insurance Profit Perpetuation Act’

Today, in testimony before the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee Forum on Health Insurance Reform, health care whistle blower Wendell Potter reminded Congress why a public option is essential to reform. If Congress fails to create “a public health insurance option to compete with private insurers, the bill it sends to the President might as well be called, ‘The Insurance Industry Profit Protection And Enhancement Act,’” Potter said.

At the end of the hearing, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) agreed with Potter. “You cited a public option as one way for it to reach its achieve its goal,” she told him. “We will be passing the ‘Private Insurance Profit Perpetuation Act.’ We have no intention of doing that”:

Mr. Potter, you said it well when you said, if we do a plan that doesn’t really achieve its goal. And you cited a public option as one way for it to reach its achieve its goal. We will be passing the ‘Private Insurance Profit Perpetuation Act.’ We have no intention of doing that. We want the private insurance to thrive. We don’t want our members to go into an exchange where they only have one choice, where there is sole sourcing. But that the public option provides that competition.



Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/15/pelosi-potter/

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VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DehqmRPkFXk&feature=player_embedded

[Captain Hilts]

1. Good on Pelosi. Sing it! nt

[Fridays Child]

2. k/r

[tridim]

3. It's a really bad day for the chicken little party.

Rock on Pelosi!

[polichick]

4. Great line - glad to hear it! nt

[bluestateguy]

5. That's good, but I just wish she and her team would coordinate their language a little better

One day you hear this type of tough, pro-public option rhetoric, and then another day you hear language from Pelosi, Hoyer or even Clyburn watering down such statements.

[villager]

7. a consistent Democratic message *two days in a row* might indeed be nice...

n/t

[emulatorloo]

9. It is more how CNN, POLITICO, etc report what Dems say than what they say, I think.

Those news outlets take any ambiguous statement and give it the most negative spin possible.

I had to imagine CNN "interpreting" some of the stuff I say.

[pocoloco]

17. Her table has a slippery top.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. P.I.P.P.A.?

KNR

[DCKit]

22. P.I.P.O.O.P.O.O. would have been colorful and descriptive of the intent. n/t

[Laelth]

8. Thank goodness Pelosi is listening to Wendell Potter. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[emulatorloo]

10. ‘Private Insurance Profit Perpetuation Act.’ - I love that phrase n/t

[Buns_of_Fire]

24. Yeah, but try SAYING it five times, real fast!

Damn near spit my own tongue out, I did.

[provis99]

25. Needs to be even simpler.

I'd call it "Cash for Corporations".

[TerribleLarryDingle]

11. But but but....

Just the other day we were told she sold us out to United Health and everyone jumped on the Hate Pelosi bandwagon.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4055649&mesg_id=4055649

:sarcasm:
This site makes my fucking head spin sometimes.

[pleah]

12. I really want to believe her. Still not convinced.

K&R anyway.

[Myrina]

19. Same here. What was it Larry O'Donnell said to KO last week ...

... something to the effect that she will continue to say that she's insisting on a public option, knowing full well its not going to happen, then allowing it to be pulled 'in order to pass something' and then going back to her constituents et al saying "I tried, I really tried" ... when all she ever intended to do was blow smoke up our collective asses ...


:( She has yet to impress me, or give me a reason to believe anything she says.

[frylock]

13. excellent news!

:applause:

[Paper Roses]

14. Will they please stay on message! Confusing at best.

One day we are told one thing, the next day it is another. Frustrating.

[Javaman]

15. Okay, does that mean she will pass a public option or a public option with a

trigger?

a very big difference.

[hlthe2b]

16. Good to hear... Keep some spine, Nancy

[LiberalLovinLug]

18. This could be her moment to shine.

As well as Reid and many other Democrats who were cowards up till now about declaring unwavering support for the public option. (single payer is a distant memory..sigh) Maybe those shining stars will burn very bright and then go out. Maybe they will fail. But its time to make a stamp on history that they gave it their all in the fight for affordable universal health care. And it goes without saying that Obama MUST lead that public fight. Better late than never. He said he was willing to be a one term president as long as he brought an effective health care reform to America. Only a public option would do that. Its time to shine.

[frebrd]

20. Gawd, I hope she means it! eom

[Plucketeer]

21. Of course, I want to believe this, but

she and her compatriots have back-pedalled and obfuscated so MANY things after talking a good game, that I'm growing weary. You know, fool me once - fool me 36 more times and I'm starting to have doubts!

Heh - I just filled out a priority questionaire/donate thing from the DCCC. The questionaire is a joke really. The lame-brain questions posed so as to basically answer theselves. If this fluff reflects how they see me intellectually, I'm insulted.

I simply wrote on the thing that there wouldn't be ONE MORE DIME until there was a health care plan IN PLACE with a public option as a part of it - signed into law by Obama. Otherwise, they can go to their corporate masters for money.

[swilton]

23. I agree with Myrina

I don't trust Pelosi any farther than I can see her.:argh:

[Indigent]

26. This is the type of decisiveness that we need

Great move by Pelosi. Let's keep up the heat.

[joeycola]

28. There is nothing decisive about "I believe"

[senseandsensibility]

27. Cool

At least she seems to get it.

[Vidar]

29. I'm not accustomed to having Pelosi on the right side, but I'm not going to turn it down.

[Mari333]

30. Private Insurance Profit Perpetuation say that 3 times FAST