Without a decent public option - The President should veto any health bill.

[TheBigotBasher]

Public option should mean just that. No protecting the insurance companies from competition, it must have the ability to join even if you have an existing plan.

The American people should have the ability to buy in to the plans offered to Members of Congress have.

And put very simply for Congress Critters to understand - mandated insurance should be a no no without a decent rebate system, otherwise you punish the poor for the crime of being poor.

[DesertFlower]

1. hopefully he will veto it. nt

[regnaD kciN]

3. Vetoing won't be enough...

...for that will just leave us where we are today, with no hope for change in the future. We need to make sure that whatever bill arises from the conference committees will have employer mandates and a strong public option.

[DesertFlower]

6. self delete

[TheBigotBasher]

4. That needs to be made clear now.

The House Bill is not awful but what is coming out of the Senate is a disgrace. Therefore what comes out of conference is likely to be an absolute disgrace.

It is hard to explain why the Democratic Party is better for the poor when it was Clinton - not Reagan or Bush that shafted the poor on welfare reform and when it is a Democratic Senate that looks likely to once again shaft them on health.

[regnaD kciN]

8. Actually...

...you need to keep track of the various proposals. There is yet no "House Bill," and the proposal that has us all ticked off is the product of the Senate Finance Committee. There's another Senate proposal, coming from the HELP Committee, that includes what the Finance bill has jettisoned. That means that there will have to be at least two reconciliation processes -- one between the two Senate bills and one with the result and the House bill (which will almost certainly have the public option and employer mandates.

I would say that the odds are that reconciliation would result in a bill that's less like Baucus's "compromise" and more like the HELP bill, but we can't just sit back and assume the legislative branch will do right by us -- we have to keep the pressure on them.

[mopinko]

17. who is on the conference committee?

that is what i would like to know. anyone?

[Hannah Bell]

2. bets?

[Naturyl]

5. K&R

[Liberty Belle]

7. I agree 100%. I'm being forced into an HMO where a doctor botched surgery on me before.

My husband changed jobs and the new insurance is the nightmare HMO that I had terrible problems with before - including a surgeon who gave me a bone infection through malpractice, and another doctor who covered up what was done. How can I have any confidence in this group?

They also don't cover treatments I need for chronic pain from an old neck/back injury (chiropractice, massage therapy).

I can't buy private insurance because of preexisting conditions plus I can't afford it.

Sure hope I don't get sick!

We really need a public option, not just for the uninsured, but for people like me who hate their insurance policy and want something better!

[David Zephyr]

9. Yes, and he should say it clearly early on that he will veto any bill without the Public Option.

Obama now needs to lead, not be led.

[bkkyosemite]

10. We need to tell them what we want. I want HR 676 Single Payer Now!

[orleans]

11. howard dean was talking about this with rachel tonight

that the crap in congress is verging on insurance reform not health care.

he's going to be hosting olbermann's show tuesday and wednesday--hope he talks about this more.

[unblock]

12. i rather doubt such a bill would ever reach his desk.

obama would "lose" if both houses passed a bill that wasn't what he has asked for. he could veto and send them back to the drawing board, thereby greatly increasing the political stakes, and maybe he could triumph after that, but he would be vastly better off if he got with congressional leaders to kill an unacceptable bill well before that point.

[natrat]

13. veto? lol, he's behind the scenes pushing for it.Rahm in the smokey back room right now

[DeltaLitProf]

14. I can't go along with this

Portability, ending pre-existing conditions, cost-cutting measures. These three goals are too worthy and too important to reject. The Clintons went the "our way or the highway" route in the summer of 94 and we ended up getting NOTHING and then got eaten alive by the Newt Nazis in November. Obama will sign SOME kind of bill and declare victory. But the loss of a public option would be terrible. I'd hope if he got more Dems in Congress somehow in Nov 10, he'd have another go at it or at least try to extend the numbers of those eligible for medicaid.

[foginthemorn]

16. do these measures come into effect in 2013?

[TheBigotBasher]

18. A bill that does not deliver decent health care

will be puished by voters. Healthcare reform wil be dead for another 20 years and repugs will still use this to say Government health care does not work. The President has made clear wht he wants, if Congress is not going to deliver that, then it needs a veto.

[foginthemorn]

15. The Pres needs to LEAD NOW!! I do not think he is leading.