US House Leaders Back Off Public Health Insurance Option

[The Northerner]

Source: Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. House leaders signaled on Tuesday they are willing to agree to a final health overhaul bill without a government-run health insurance option if other parts of the bill would fulfill the same goals.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said after meeting with senior House Democrats that the bill must meet the test of "holding insurance companies accountable," whether or not it includes a public option.

"There are other ways to do that, and I look forward to discussing those other ways. ... We will have what we need to hold the insurance companies accountable," Pelosi said.

Pelosi huddled with House committee chairmen as talks between the House and Senate on reconciling competing versions of the health care overhaul bill got underway on Tuesday. House leaders are to meet with Senate leaders via teleconference at the White House on Tuesday evening. They are aiming to strike a deal by early February.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100105-712486.html

[robo50]

1. One word from me on this:

D*** SH** F*** SCR** Them!


Corporatist Cowards!

[tridim]

4. The bill must meet the test of "holding insurance companies accountable"

That aint corporatism pal, it's the exact opposite.

Did you even read the post?

[county worker]

6. You want a good deal on a bridge in New York?

[tridim]

7. So you think she's lying about what she wants in the bill?

[rhett o rick]

17. No it's not called lying. She is merely blowing smoke up our tailpipes. nt

[tridim]

18. In your opinion.

Your opinion isn't necessarily the reality.

She said what she said, and nothing about her character or her history tells me she doesn't mean it.

[joeglow3]

57. Did you also believe Pelosi when she said

"There has never been a more open process" when describing how we are getting sold out to big pharma behind closed doors?

[TheEuclideanOne]

37. Didn't she say back in september that .....

"Any health bill 'without a strong public option will not pass the House,' Nancy Pelosi says. So.... what would you call that?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26742.html

[rhett o rick]

16. LOL. The bill must "hold insurance companies accountable". Can you spell rhetoric?

Please, please tell me what YOU think she means by that? What is accountable? and what happens to them if they arent "accountable".

I apologize for using LOL. My kids say it's out.

[tridim]

19. You would probably have called JFK's moon speech rhetoric.

It's really easy to do, and a complete cop-out.

[rhett o rick]

23. "holding insurance companies accountable" is double speak.

It sounds good but really doesnt mean anything concrete. How do we hold them accountable? Accountable to what? What happens if they arent accountable?

[izquierdista]

27. Don't argue with Stewie

Just give the all-day sucker an all-day sucker and he will be happy.

[No Elephants]

52. Please see Reply 37. JFK hadn't said the opposite a few months earlier.

[katkat]

54. tridim

Let's get real. We did get to the moon, as he intended. No one thinks the current "leadership" plans on a public option or any reasonable facsimile of.

[rhett o rick]

60. If someone says we are going to the moon. That is a definate statement. If they say we are going to

make getting to the moon very important. That is rhetoric, as it really doesnt define any specific action or goal. Nancy said we were going to hold insurance companies "accountable" which means nothing specific. She could have said we were going to make sure the insurance companies behaved themselves. If Nancy were to say that we will hold insurance company profits to 10%, then we would have something. Anyways, Nancy has said in the past that a HCR bill that passes the House would have a PO. I guarantee that Nancy wont hold insurance companies accountable to my standards.

[glitch]

32. Lol has been around for 40+ years.

Your whippersnappers don't get to decide it's out. :P

[rhett o rick]

58. 40 years? You are making their point. LOL, I enjoy setting them off anyways. nt

[chimpymustgo]

33. Seriously, you people have got to start using your BRAINS.

[sabrina 1]

35. I read it, and I don't buy it. I wouldn't buy it if

Newt Gingrich was selling it, and it isn't any different with a Democrat trying to sell it. They really do believe the people are children.

Quite honestly, I don't expect anything from them anymore, not if Major Corporations are involved and have an interest in legislation that might affect their bottom line. I know who will win and it won't be the American people.

It's freeing in many ways because it's like dealing with an addict. As long as you keep believing the lies an addict tells, you get your hopes up, only to have them crushed every time, until there is some kind of major interventions and you finally take a stand. When you reach that point finally, it is a huge burden lifted.

These people are addicted to power and money and they belong to an elite club which they value very much. More than they value their relationship with the American people, just like an addict.

The Insurance Industry won. They got everything they wanted removed, m taken out of the bill.

Now the people have to decide what to do about it. I for one, won't be buying their shoddy product and I won't be paying any fines either. I wouldn't mind being taken to court over it. I still believe I have rights, one of them is the right to spend my money on products I choose. The other is the right to have access to Health Care that is equal to what Congress and the Wealthiest citizen has access to.

Health Care is a Civil Right. All their conniving and shenanigans won't change that. As always, this country will have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century when it comes to granting rights to its own citizens, rights all other civilized countries take for granted. But, as long as their are people who refuse to fight for their rights, that process will be delayed. I feel sad for people who are so beaten down and so used to be abused by their government, that they are willing to support this anti-democratic legislation.

[Mojorabbit]

48. +100 nt

[ima_sinnic]

51. +1000 I too will refuse to buy it (nt)

[dflprincess]

43. Sure it does

just like Obama said we needed a public option to "keep them honest". A statement that admits the insurance companies are crooked, yet they are going to be allowed to go on stealing from us with minimal oversight.

[Iowa]

47. That has to be one of the most gullible comments I've seen in a long time...

[unc70]

50. Not gullible. Staying on message, working the TPs, waiting for reinforcements

Curious if anyone knows or has met in real life any of DUers who relentlessly post the most positive messages about the current HCR bills and its supporters. I realize it would be difficult since they seem to spend all their time right here on DU posting away 24/7.

[Iowa]

62. You may be right. I'm never sure...

Sometimes I read it as naivety, gullibility, and/or ignorance. But then I think nobody could be that damned clueless, and if they really are they probably wouldn't be here.

Other times I read it as either paid staff, or someone with a dog in the race, because the posts just seem too pat and lacking in originality or passion. But if that were the case I'd expect them to be much more sophisticated in their tactics. Usually they are no match for most DUers and would do their cause more harm than good.

So I'm torn.

And no, I have never met a real life DUer who relentlessly posts positive messages about the current HCR bills. There isn't a single person I know who doesn't believe HCR is a massive sell-out. The progressives I know in real life are seriously pissed about this... the depth of the outrage is like nothing I've ever seen, and the bullshit positive spin the pols are trying to put on it just antagonizes them more. Washington has no clue about the level of outrage out in the hinterlands.

[fasttense]

53. Other ways of a public option...

"There are other ways to do that." Yeah I know it's called mandates.

[HuckleB]

2. Ugh.

[IndianaGreen]

3. BOHICA

No amount of lubricant jelly can ever make this corporate giveaway of health insurance reform palatable to the working class.

[county worker]

5. I hope the progressives kill the bill!

This is not in our best interests. People will be forced to buy insurance and still not be able to afford care. Older people will have their premiums raised. Existing condition people will be put in a high risk pool and be charged more.

If it was in our best interests insurance company stocks would tank!

[tridim]

8. Read the post and quit spreading RW bullshit please.

[WatchWhatISay]

9. I read the effing thing

Explain to me exactly what is going to accomplish the same goal of providing real competition to the for profit insurance companies in the same whay that a public option would.

You cannot do it. They cannot do it. They just want to claim victory and go home. We won't buy it.

[tridim]

10. Are you saying that the Speaker of The House is a liar?

That's a pretty serious accusation on a Democratic forum.

[waronbanks]

12. Are you saying you trust these politicians?

That is a fucking laugh...trust our politicians. Riiiiight. Jeeeze.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[waronbanks]

26. Actually I joined to express

my dissatisfaction with a clearly comprised health bill and the lack of leadership from this president, whom I voted for. His appointment of wall street hacks to oversee the banking bailouts...sending more children to die for a heroin cartel. Im hoping if enough of us who voted for him speak out against his clear backhand to us true liberals maybe...just maybe we can affect change.

I assume this is a public forum no?

And I have no idea what your pizza statement is about. I love pizza and sometimes have it delivered...what is your point?

[tkmorris]

45. I've been here since early 2001

And I say Pelosi is completely full of shit on this topic. We all knew the House would have to fold, a bill with more goodies in it than the Senate version cannot pass the Senate. The only question was how much of a dog and pony show they'd perform before caving. Pelosi is just spinning this as best she can to avoid the House losing face.

Oh and, you amuse me. I admire your ability to spout nonsense, knowing it's nonsense, and not suffer from an exploding head. It's not a talent I share with you, though it would make things easier if I did.

[WatchWhatISay]

13. I have been on this forum for over eight years

And there is always room to speak the truth here.

[tridim]

15. So you do think Pelosi is a liar. Lovely.

Got any shred of proof? Your eight years on DU don't make it so.

[rhett o rick]

20. If only life were so simple to break it down whether she is lying or not.

When a politician says what they think their public wants to hear, is that lying? The fact that Rep Pelosi says that the bill includes provisions that are as good as a public option is her opinion. I disagree.

But more importantly, are you happy with the bill passed by the House? by the Senate? Tell us what you support.

[Demeter]

21. If Nancy's Lips Are Moving

She's Lying while performing lewd acts on Corporate Cronies.

[tridim]

25. Got any examples?

[TheEuclideanOne]

38. Regardless of whether I agree or disagree with your obscene comments...

I must admit that if she can actually do both at the same time, that is truly impressive. Doesn't Miss Mannners say that you are not supposed to talk with your mouth full?

[tridim]

24. I'm extremely happy with the single-payer seeds in the Senate Bill

And the House Bill contains the PO and the vast majority of insurance reforms that we all support.

I'm certainly not one of those people who cherry pick wording in an unfinished bill and use it to spread FUD.

[Abq_Sarah]

30. What's the difference between lying and delusional?

[dflprincess]

44. Oh gee, a politician who lies

I'm shocked I tell you, shocked!



Not to burst your bubble, but Republicans aren't the only politicians who lie (The Tonkin Gulf comes to mind as an example).

I'll call her a liar, just like she lied when she said any bill coming out of the House had to have a strong public option. Pelosi is the one who pulled the Kucinich amendment out of the House bill after it had passed in committee. That's the amendment that would have allowed the states to find real solutions to the mess on their own. Supposedly she did that at Obama's request. Neither one of them are interested in giving the private insurers any real competition.

[katkat]

55. tridim

"Are you saying that the Speaker of The House is a liar?"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Lucky Luciano]

11. How is that a right wing meme. If insurance company stocks tanked,

Then the bill probably would have better. The other way us even more true - if the bill was good, then the insurance company stocks would have tanked.

[county worker]

28. I really hate it when a DUer calls a differing option RW bull shit!

That is snark not discussing.

[Odin2005]

22. KILL THE BILL!

[OregonBlue]

29. You're quoting from that right-wing rag and we're supposed to believe it?

[Abq_Sarah]

31. Watch this clip

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0110/Speaker_hedges_on_public_option.html

And tell me what you think she's saying.

[GOTV]

42. She's saying "Look how cutsie I can be while protecting the insurace companies"

The public option holds them accountable. There is no way you'll get something stronger than the mechanism they won't let you have.

[Vidar]

34. So much for Pelosi's "good behaivior"

[IsItJustMe]

36. Of course they will.

[Moosepoop]

39. More of her quote

From the link provided in post #31:

"The fact that there's the public option — I prefer to call it the public's option, an option for the public to hold the insurance companies accountable and increase competition — there are other ways to do that, and we look forward to having those discussions," Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a clutch of reporters after meeting with her leadership team.

"We will have what we need to hold the insurance companies accountable," the speaker continued. "I contend that whatever we have coming out of this bill will hold them accountable, and they'll be crying out for public option."

She sounded mischievously gleeful when she said that -- wonder what she has in mind?

Edited to fix quotation tags.

[Jefferson23]

46. She has my attention, but that is because I am desperate, not because she may deliver, lol

[4dsc]

56. What a bunch of crap.

Anyone who believes this bill will hold insurance companies accountable is only fooling themselves..

[GOTV]

40. Soon to be followed by "House drops requirement to hold ins. companies accountable"

[EndElectoral]

41. Very disheartening. Such high hopes dashed again.

[yurbud]

49. ouch. How do they think they are going to win in 2010?

[bejamin wood]

59. Immortal Words...

[fascisthunter]

61. they never planned to keep a public option... Nancy is a liar