Public option dealt blow

[villager]

Source: AP

Public option dealt blow

By Calvin Woodward
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Two House Democrats who favor a government insurance plan, a central element of health care legislation passed in their chamber, acknowledged Sunday it might have to be sacrificed as negotiators work out a final agreement with the Senate.

Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and one who had appealed to President Barack Obama not to yield on the public plan, set out conditions himself for yielding.
Asked during rounds on the Sunday news shows whether he could vote for a final bill that does not embrace a public plan, Clyburn said: "Yes, sir, I can."

Clyburn added: "We want a public option to do basically three things: Create more choice for insurers, create more competition for insurance companies, and to contain costs. So if we can come up with a process by which these three things can be done, then I'm all for it. Whether or not we label it a 'public option' "... is of no consequence."

While insisting "it's not dead," Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said he recognizes realities in the Senate, where Democrats had to scrape up every vote from their side even to pass a bill without a government plan to compete in the private insurance marketplace.

"Before the House was to give up the public option, we would want to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in whatever bill comes out that will keep down premiums," said Van Hollen, appearing to sketch out a bottom line without a government plan included. "We've got to make sure that the final product is affordable."

<snip>

Read more: http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14079150?source=rss&nclick_check=1

[billyoc]

1. "It's not dead, it's just restin'!"

Van Hollen is Rahm Emmanuel's girl friday, you can bet that if he say it's not dead, it's dead.

[annabanana]

2. it's pinin' for the fjords. . . . n/t

[jgraz]

4. Jinx!

:P

[jgraz]

3. It's pinin' for the fjords!

[rfranklin]

5. Beautiful plumage, eh?

'E's resting!

[24601]

6. R U sayen it jumped da shark? And I'm not being snide in this,

but can you explain the Van Hollen aspect. Is it that if it was good news, Rahn would say it, but since it's not going to happen, send one of the pawns out to lie?

[damntexdem]

17. It's getting better.

Don't take out the dead yet. ;-)

[phatkatt]

19. The public option prefers lyin' on it's back

[Johnny ramone]

7. K&R

Do I smell blackmail ?

[Guilded Lilly]

8. Yeah, well, let's face it

Once again we, the people, are going to have to settle for something we didn't want and do without many things we desperately needed, to sacrifice for the good of the political Gods and their way-of- the-beltway lives.

Once again, they have us right where they want us...completely powerless. It will not make me back any Republicans, ever. It will not make me dislike Obama, ever. It isn't exactly the *lesser of two evils* either. It is just a damned disappointment...again. And again and again.

Sure, things could change once this gets through...but in an election year (tell me again which year ISN'T an election year? That is what it comes down to anyway)it won't. Hell, I don't even think it would actually stand a chance even if the Republicans weren't being such obstructionist bully punks pricks.
There are enough Democrats to mess around with our needs as it is.

(though I must admit, adding the 10% tanning salon tax did make me smile. Direct hit Boehner!)

If they CAN keep down premiums..(doubtful without any true competition) they will probably find something else to screw up the process. Oh hey yeah, why not bring in that old bone...abortion rights? That always seems to work really well in getting the passions flaring and killing any real reform (and it benefits men, too, by the way, those most tend to ignore that)

Affordable is a very relative word. Make it cheap...like most of the rest of the world!
Call the public option anything you want. JUST GET ONE FOR US.
Dems are going to get a health *reform* passed and save face in the books. But they haven't saved much for the people who needed it the most.

Goddess help us, I hope someone gets the Kahunas to actually make things change for the (genuine) better.

[Frosty cupcake]

9. Yup, they'll keep costs down

Without a public option through the magic of "regulators."

The same magical regulators who stopped the derivatives meltdown, the same ones who prevented Madoff from stealing billions, the same guys who oversaw Enron, the very ones who totally didn't allow a savings and loan crisis in the 90s.

Yeah, regulators will work for sure this time. They promise.

:eyes:

[RedCloud]

10. We shall overcome some day!

[No Elephants]

11. At least take away the exemption from monopoly laws, ffs.

[jus_the_facts]

12. The blow dealt is that the Public's Option is get insurance or go to jail. n/t

[bvar22]

13. So....

The Democrats are going to pass what is essentially a Republican Health Care Plan,
without The Republicans having to assume any of the political risks.

The Republicans have gotten almost everything they wanted (Mandates without a Public Option)
NOW, all the Republicans have to do is just sit back and say "YEP. We opposed it."" when the REALITY of this "reform" hits the majority of Americans.

[winyanstaz]

20. exactly...and I believe that was the plan all along.

[glitch]

26. That's it in 3-D alright. nt

[tbyg52]

27. A bad bill *and* politically stupid. A winning combination. nt

[defendandprotect]

14. 'CHOICE' should have been the theme from the very start . . .

IMO, if public option goes -- this will turn out to be a BLOW to this administration!!

[avaistheone1]

15. Weak Dems on public option = less Dems in 2012

It's THEIR choice now.

[ramapo]

18. No...it means less Dems in 2010

Here is my timeline:

1. Gutless bastards pass bill in late Jan/early Feb.

2. Obama has celebratory signing ceremony

3. Day after bill becomes law, the Repubs launch the 2010 campaign. Their platform will be take back Congress so they can repeal this awful mess.

4. Democrats, having successfully pissed off both the right and the left while leaving the middle thoroughly unimpressed, lose both houses of Congress in the 2010 mid-terms.

5. Jan. 2011 - It takes the new Congress one week to repeal the bill. Obama vetos it and the Repubs fail (just barely) to override the veto.

6. Obama goes on to win the 2012 election against Sarah Palin. The election is close but sanity prevails. He gets his wish to be a bipartision leader as the Congress remains solidly in Republican control.

[IndianaGreen]

34. What if Romney is the GOP nominee?

GOP establishment doesn't like Palin at all, and they will do to her what they did to McCain in 2000.

[mzmolly]

16. Can't we add a public option under reconciliation?

Once we have the foundation, it seem to me we could expand on much more easily?

[harun]

23. We can but they won't, they've given up before they've had the fight.

[Selatius]

31. Sure, we can. The problem is you've got a leadership that is weak and timid.

When the Republicans get into power and try to pass an awful bill, expect Repubs to use reconciliation to ram through bills with just 51 votes in the Senate. Sure, at first they'll pretend to negotiate with Democrats in good faith in order to scrap together the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster by a liberal Democrat, but once they get the 60, they'll use reconciliation and just pass the original bill they wanted in the first place...with just 51 votes.

[Old Codger]

21. Gee

What a surprise, never saw that coming :sarcasm:

[Odin2005]

22. FUCK!

[Jefferson23]

24. Can they get at least one thing put back in? I am so fucking sick of this bullshit.

How the hell can they claim credibility without at least stripping the health insurance companies of their anti-trust exemption???

snip* The antitrust laws comprise what the Supreme Court calls a "charter of freedom", designed to protect the core republican values regarding free enterprise in America.<17> One view of the statutory purpose, urged for example by Justice Douglas, was that the goal was not only to protect consumers, but at least as importantly to prohibit the use of power to control the marketplace.<18>

"We have here the problem of bigness. Its lesson should by now have been burned into our memory by Brandeis. The Curse of Bigness shows how size can become a menace--both industrial and social. It can be an industrial menace because it creates gross inequalities against existing or putative competitors. It can be a social menace...In final analysis, size in steel is the measure of the power of a handful of men over our economy...The philosophy of the Sherman Act is that it should not exist...Industrial power should be decentralized. It should be scattered into many hands so that the fortunes of the people will not be dependent on the whim or caprice, the political prejudices, the emotional stability of a few self-appointed men...That is the philosophy and the command of the Sherman Act. It is founded on a theory of hostility to the concentration in private hands of power so great that only a government of the people should have it." Dissenting opinion of Justice Douglas in United States v. Columbia Steel Co.<18>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law

[IndianaGreen]

35. They might put the Stupak language instead of the Nelson language

Either way, women are thrown under the bus for the greater glory of Big Bro.

[SandWalker1984]

25. Who would have believed???

Who would have believed that a group of politicians that call themselves Progressives, would end up being the mandate henchmen for the rich, corporate fascist Republicans, aka follow the money?

The biggest problem we now have with health care in America is because we have a captive consumer driven, for profit ...and now thanks to the Democrats... monopolistic, capitalistic MANDATED system.

The main reason our system has evolved to this point is because of the many years of bribes of BOTH parties in Congress and a collective, somewhat selfish, I got mine culture of the citizens, fostered and encouraged by the very mainstream corporate media that substantially benefits economically from our collective division and confusion.

Jessie Ventura is right. Follow the money.

It appears that the Democrats and Obama are truly going to bring us "corporate chains" we can believe in.

[Zhade]

28. "Create more choice for insurers" -- FOR INSURERS.

Not the insured. Note this additional betrayal. It will come back to haunt us.

[ima_sinnic]

29. BUT Obama said:

"Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange...including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest." -- Barack Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FvLjsUOJg#t=4m20s

He wouldn't lie to us, would he?

[TheWatcher]

30. "Artifical Drama and Fake Theater Over Pre-Meditated Corporate Giveaway/Coup Continues."

It's like any Good Reality Show.

There needs to be a little drama to keep the viewers mesmerized.

They were never going to give us squat to begin with.

But they have pulled off quite a feat.

Not only have they screwed us, they have many of us cheering it on.

America The Deluded.

[dflprincess]

32. Yes, and the big problem with this reality show is

we're the biggest losers.

I think I hate them all.

[IndianaGreen]

33. We had the illusion that by electing Dems we would be able to control the political process.

Back in 1922, Emma Goldman had this to say about "democracy":

The western model of parliamentary democracy could more accurately be characterised as a '4-year dictatorship'. The crucial difference between 'representative' democracy and 'direct' democracy is that under the former, voters have no part in deciding policy and are unable to recall their representatives. Instead they have nothing more than the illusion that by voting they are in some way able to control the political process.

http://struggle.ws/rbr/freerev.html

She also said that if elections really changed anything, they would be made illegal.