Breaking: CNN Reports White House Negotiating A 'Trigger' Public Option With Olympia Snowe

[kpete]

Run time: 01:27 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87FjBXGi5vM   Posted on YouTube: September 02, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 03, 2009 By DU Member: kpete Views on DU: 7675

 

[KansDem]

1. Pardon my ignorance, but what the hell is a "trigger" option?

??
:(

on edit: Never mind, I read this DU thread...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6449521

[Joe the Liberal]

2. I don't know but....

if it involves cutting deals with republicans you can rest assured it's not going to be good.

[byebyegop]

5. Afraid it might be something good? The liberal whiners around here are pathetic!

Before hitting the tr0ll button keep in mind I am a die hard liberal. I gotta say thought that the amount of lefty whining around lately here is pretty disappointing. You all seem to think Obama can just wave his magic wand and make 'change' happen. That would be called a dictatorship. Unfortunately, because it is NOT a dictatorship you can't always get what you want. However, it also prevented the texas dummy from letting Cheney turn the US into a police state and privatizing EVERYTHING including Medicare/Social Security.

[Name removed]

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[byebyegop]

19. bahahahahaha! Because I don't agree with you? FAIL!

[Name removed]

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[byebyegop]

22. WTF is freeperville and why should I care? Is that a more extreme progressive whiner board? n/t

[Name removed]

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[byebyegop]

25. Ta DAAAAA....Fail!

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[byebyegop]

27. Here's to FAIL!

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[byebyegop]

35. sigh, yup you got me. I am (dramatic music) DICK CHENEY!

In my undisclosed swamp using the internets.

[Grassy Knoll]

37. Good boy, now give back mommy;s panties

[avaistheone1]

57. Screw the trigger.

Screw the Snowe job. We need real health reform now.

Single payer health care now. Medicare for all.

[tomm2thumbs]

23. I'll buy a can of that - hell, gimme a case!

does it work on roaches as well?

[Name removed]

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[byebyegop]

36. I agree 100%

...but don't let that stop your dillusional illucidations that I somehow support Republikkkans in ANY way shape or form.

[Grassy Knoll]

38. To many "L's" Jackass !!!!!

[byebyegop]

39. Delusional fail!

[Name removed]

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[rhett o rick]

51. The question is whether you support decent health care for the people or bigger profits for the

rich. Single payer is decent health care.

[iandhr]

48. As a liberal

I say thank you. I also consider myself a pragmatist I want to get stuff done. People here are pathetic sometimes. I don't if I would support a trigger. Why not a pilot program that uses a small number of people to make sure it works first

[rhett o rick]

50. Since when is decent health care liberal whining. We wont settle for less than decent.

I guess you will.

[barbiegeek]

53. Just ending Insurance discrimination will save millions

of lives. Just that alone. There are 65 million with insurance w/o coverage for their treatment or disease. 65 million we can save from just that ONLY.

[girl gone mad]

54. You don't seem to get it.

They will find another way. Without the public option (at a minimum) there is no incentive for the insurers to clean up their act.

[Seldona]

60. We have the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.

It doesn't take magic to get shit done.

[GivePeaceAchance]

3. It's in layman's terms being punked, the insurance companies down the line would ask for more time.....

to reform. It should be public option right now. They are saying public option will only kick in (trigger) if insurance companies don't change their ways, it seems to be asking a lot. But in all fairness with illnesses a massive misinformation campaign and lack of seat votes it's probably all we have right now. They should of left major reform till 2010 really. I would say try not to abandon hope, if we look at the Senate realistically it's Republican if we account for blue dogs. It's just going to take a longer term effort to make it more progressive that's why President Obama's pledges have not promised too much only what could be delivered. FOr many years politics went massively conservative it will still take more time to make that swing to first more sanity and then more progressive. In fairness to the President given what amounts to a majority conservative congress he's worked a few miracles really. As Hartmann always says despair is still not an option it has to be strong determination to get things back to a reliable Senate and in turn congress.

[Grassy Knoll]

7. Exactly..

These insurance Co. would do nothing until we force them , It just buy's time !

[valerief]

8. So I wonder how people have to die at the hands of the insurance companies'

failure to "do the right thing" before the trigger option kicks in. And I wonder, when the insurance companies challenge the claims they've failed "to do the right thing," how long the hearings will be before the trigger option kicks in.

Sounds like a trigger option is just another way to shoot ourselves in foot.

[DCKit]

46. Between 14K and 22K are dying each year now for lack of adequate care...

And Snowe would give the insurance corporations five years (of 26% annual increases) before the trigger kicks in (on the off-chance they'd learn to behave).

Think we've got "Death Panels" now? Snowe's plan would declare war on the poor, minorities and middle class with the only beneficiaries being the insurance companies.

Medicare 4 All is the ONLY plan we can afford. If the insurance companies can't compete, then let them die.

[bkkyosemite]

34. Universal care did not happen on Clinton's watch either. This is a sell out and I am angry!

[Uncle Joe]

10. It means a lot of people will metaphorically speaking; get shot and die for

corporate profit's sake before the U.S. joins the rest of the civilized world in efficiently covering it's citizens.

Of course with the corporate media; you never know whether they're reporting the truth or lying out their ass.

[Paper Roses]

45. In layman's terms, it is called stalling for time. Two years for

more to be sick, lose their homes, go bankrupt and all the other things that go with being uninsured.

[Baltoman991]

4. Is this the

same CNN who told us earlier today that Obama was backing away from the public option only to be shown that it was a lie?

Yeah, I'll take their word for it instead of waiting for Obama to speak next week.

[GivePeaceAchance]

13. Actually you do have a good point there I heard Snow was all for a Public Option her seat depends..

on it. We do have to be careful on how react to information till there is something official declared. Althogh it may well be what she is telling her fellow Republicans to keep them calm, but from all I've heard she's mostly for it.

[byebyegop]

6. Maybe....

They are going to shelve the public option saying they don't have enough support which is all quite true. Then they will make 2010 a semi-official moratorium on the public option. Maybe even have we the people vote on it although I am not sure how/if that can be done with current rules.

[valerief]

9. What do you mean they don't have enough support for it? In Romania?

Cuz Americans here support it, as second choice to single payer, of course.

[GivePeaceAchance]

16. The more I think about the story the more I think it's misinformation Snow is pro public option and

pressure for her to support it must be stronger after the passing of Teddy. This maybe what they are putting out there to throw her fellow GOP colleagues off the scent.

[byebyegop]

18. She has stated publicly she opposes the public option. n/t

[byebyegop]

17. Not enough senators support it so 2010 is a vote on that.

Senators can run on platforms for or against the public option and let the voters decide. Sure puts the GOP in a tight spot which is why Obama the brilliant 3d chess player kung fu master may consider this.

[valerief]

21. Or the game is rigged again and we, the pawns, continue to lose. nt

[howmad1]

42. Wait just a second:

On Nov. 2, 2008, did I dream that the democrats won the white house, the House of Representatives and the Senate? Did I also dream that we had a fillibuster proof majority in the Senate? Did I dream that Obama was for single payer healthcare? Did I also dream that the democrats now had the microphone; after bitterly complaining that for 8 years, nobody would listen to them? And did I dream Obama had an 80% approval rating and could just about do anything he wanted? And finally, did I dream that this democratic president and congress would make change we could believe in? So what the fuck are we negotiating with Olympia Snow for, and for that matter with any repiglican about healthcare? Am I missing something here? Oh, I guess I forgot Obama took $2 million bucks from the health care industry while selling us a bill of goods. Man, what a smooth operator this amateur politician has turned out to be. My dreams are turning out to be one fucked up nightmare.

[theFrankFactor]

43. You got that right.

On this we can agree. We once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!

[rhett o rick]

49. WE the f'in People did vote on it. We voted with Obama's pledge for single payer. We are responding

to the polls 86 friggin % that we wont settle for less than a strong public option. How much more can "We the People" do?

[pundaint]

55. Wrong

Obama didn't pledge single payer before the election but he did promise to fight lobbyists and negotiate public business with transparency. On these two pledges he has proven to be a liar. And while he may or may not be scheming in the background, what he isn't doing is leading.

[rhett o rick]

56. He is on tape stating he supports single payer. nt

[braunfels]

12. More Proof

that Obama's "strategy" of bi-partisanship groveling gives the loud minority exactly what they want...preserve the status quo = no competition. His inexperience should be obvious to everyone by now. Hillary was right (btw I didn't support her.) The Presidency is not for someone who needs on the job training.

[Sky Masterson]

14. um

"His inexperience should be obvious to everyone by now. Hillary was right (btw I didn't support her.) The Presidency is not for someone who needs on the job training."
:mad: I strongly disagree

[glinda]

28. Anyone trust the Insurance Companies to make any changes by two years? I'll tell U

the changes that they will make in the two years grace time. they will raise rates, kill more people, deny more coverage, look for any way possible to reap max profits. Bullshit. Total bullshit. So grandma who needs help now will just have to die. Bullshit.

[KansDem]

59. The way I see it, they've had decades to "reform"

They knew this day was coming, or they thought they had enough bought-and-paid-for members of Congress to stave off such a day. But, rather than concentrate on helping Americans with affordable coverage for all, they blew off enough of us to guarantee huge profits for them.

The way I see it, they had their chance and they blew it!

No "trigger" option!!!

[glinda]

61. No Trigger Option!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Agreed!

[droidamus2]

29. Not good enough

No way Obama should fall for this shell game. What would happen is that they would set some goals, then just before the public option would be triggered the insurance companies would come in with some excuse as to why they couldn't meet the goals and it wasn't their fault. Then they would ask for the goals to be changed or for another couple of years. In the end what they would be hoping for was a GOP victory in 2010 (in the House and Senate) or a big win in 2012 at which time the trigger would be dropped altogether. I would rather see the government competing with the insurance companies as the incentive for the companies to change rather some weak 'trigger' idea. Obama you were elected on your promise of change letting the Republicans, even if she is one of the few semi-moderate Republicans, dictate what will and won't be in the final bill is not change. If we wanted the Republicans in control we would have voted for them. If Obama drops or waters down the 'public option' I will see it as a big sign of weakness on his part and will not expect him to accomplish much in the remaining 3.5 or 7.5 years of his presidency. This bill will set the tone if it is weak then it will be a weak presidency.

[midnight]

41. "trigger" in legislative lingo, opposed by health care advocates

Under the plan floated by Kerry, a public health care option would only be triggered by private insurance companies failing to meet certain criteria after ten years. Known as the "trigger" in legislative lingo, the idea is vociferously opposed by health care advocates who consider it the death of reform. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/25/kerry-pushes-for-public-o_n_220822.html

[tomm2thumbs]

44. if folks are so gung-ho about 'triggers', how about a reverse trigger????

We enact the public option - if it doesn't work after 5 years, we'll revisit it and see if we should change it to something else like a co-op or try something different.

That sounds like a fair 'trigger' to me.

[Triana]

47. WRONG! - A "trigger" option that will NEVER apply to anyone - will never "trigger"

it's a plug nickel and nothing else.

[quiet.american]

52. Am really tired of success of every Dem initiative being determined by a Snowe job.

[Chisox08]

58. So in other words

We will not get at least a public option do to the need to be bi-partisan. You had 60 Senators a large majority in the House yet you could get us a single payer or at least a public option.