Why the PO is so necessary.. To be a referee for the free market system

[Peacetrain]

I am very Pro Obama.. I do not think anyone is going to disagree with that statement.

I am very Pro Public Option.

While the President has adopted SS Clintons position on mandates, she was not totally wrong in that. In order for health care to work for everyone, everyone has to be in the pool so to speak. Young, Middle and Old. That is how we keep premiums down.

That would be true if it were single payer also.

We all have to be on board with this, and not using the emergency rooms as our primary care.

After saying all that, the PO is our one and only way to control the insurance companies.

I know that the Co-op idea is being pushed.. and it is not a bad idea in and of itself. But it cannot stand alone to keep the insurance industry in check. Only a PO can do that.

Because if all we have are Co-ops then given time, the companies will begin to selectively up prices together.

We all saw that with the cable companies. Competition to lower prices only works if you have a REFEREE to keep the big boys from squishing the little guys.

There is nothing wrong with free markets and capitalism as long as everyone is playing on an even field.

Capitalism run amok is dictatorship by corporations, with only the large surviving and then dictating prices.

Call it a company town scenario.

The Public Option is key.

We have been at this for almost 100 years. The time is now.

[LiberalAndProud]

1. I would argue that free market theory doesn't apply.

I do agree that the Public Option is a necessary component, precisely because the of the captive consumer aspect of the proposed legislation. There is nothing "free market" when the purchase is mandated. If left to free market principles, I think the health insurance industry would eventually collapse under its own weight.

I would rather the Insurance Mafia be kept out of the equation altogether, but that is not in the offering.

[Peacetrain]

3. I know what you mean.. but it is a two edged sword as it were..

with medical costs leading the way because of so many people being treated in emergency rooms as their primary care.

I understood what Hillary was getting at in her original push for mandates.. because it is the only way we can spread the risk so to speak, so that everyone can afford to be covered,.


The interesting thing about insurance companies is they are getting ready to be traded teh way real estate was.

Which is really scary for teachers whose only retirement is in TIAA CREF the teachers annuity which is actually insurance. But that is a whole different subject.

We are going to see a realignment of the insurance companies, no doubt. But it will only happen if we have the Public Option.


Between you and me, and the freepers looking in chewing their fingernails to the nubs. The Public Option is the first step to single payer, given time.

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. Did you just call Thom Hartmann? He just had a caller

that asked about referees

[Peacetrain]

4. No I didn't... what did the caller say?

[OwnedByFerrets]

5. The caller said we need a referee or else

the insurance companies would/could not be held in check. Thom reminded him that the PO/SP was just that....the referee.

[Peacetrain]

8. Wow...must have been a cosmic thought day...

[Autumn]

6. K/R

Exactly :kick:

[TheKentuckian]

7. We need the public option AND (imo) full access to the exchange for everyone

The public option gives you the baseline control mechanism and allowing 170 million people to jump in the system would allow market forces a real chance to have an effect on pricing and quality of offerings.

[wiggs]

9. there are more reasons than that for a public option. Regardless of whether

or not there's competition for your insurance dollar, there's something inherently wrong with for-profit insurance for basic care. There are simply too many opportunities for profit and service (life and death) to come into conflict with one another.