health care reform proposals

[Soylent Brice]

okay, so it looks like the House is nosing in the right direction, but the Senate appears to be completely blind.

thanks to mmonk for the links:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/20/house-d... /

i know this is preliminary but i am stoked about the house having a public option included. goes without saying i am extremely disappointed in the Senate version. what are they doing? are they trying to see what kind of reaction they get in the polls? is the Senate playing chicken with us to see how bad we want national health coverage before they'll finally veer off the road?

either way, it apepars that there is still real hope in having a public option, so i'm not entirely dismayed.

question for DUers: is it me or does the idea of a co-op plan sound extremely bad?

maybe someone can explain it better to me, but to me it just looks like another shiny object of distraction.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Unfortunately, neither link works

I've just skimmed over the House plan, but don't know about the Senate, so I cannot comment. Do you have any other links?

[Soylent Brice]

2. let me see what's up.

i was just on them earlier, let me see if i can repost them. :) thanks for the heads up, and sorry for the delay!

[Soylent Brice]

3. try these:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061804053.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/20/house-democrats-offer-health-care-draft/

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Sorry to take so long to get back to you

I've skimmed the Senate proposal. IF the health co-ops had local control and worked on the premise that costs be kept down and no "golden parachutes" for CEOs, that might work. I'm on an electric co-op and have gotten loans from another local co-op. What I'm out for is to be able to get signed on with a NON-PROFIT company.

[bvar22]

5. The local control is a NO-GO.

What "Local Control" does is diminish and disperse the Public Option's power to "negotoate" lower prices from Health Care facilities and BIG Pharm.
"Local Control" is a very bitter Poison Pill.

For the Public Option to really work, we need ALL of our collective voices organized on a National level to bargain for lower prices.

[bvar22]

6. The last time I looked,

...one of the "Plans" coming out of the Senate proposed to pay for an unspecified Public Option by cutting Medicare.
This is a Deal Breaker for me UNTIL we are given a chance to read ALL the fine print associated with the still undefined Public Option.

We need to be very careful here.
Just because a politician labels a plan "Public Option" does NOT automatically mean that it will be good for America. I don't think it is very smart to agree to cut Medicare before seeing what is "in the poke".

Very powerful and slimy forces have been trying to kill Medicare for a long time.
Some of them are masquerading as Democrats.

[Soylent Brice]

8. if a viable public option was available

would it be necessary to keep medicare?

wouldn't it just be replaced with an equivalent in that case?

[SpartanDem]

7. There are two Senate bills

HELP Cmte bill has a public option