Clearly, Some DU'ers Wanted Obama To Kill Off The Insurance Industry In One Fell Swoop

[KittyWampus]

Yes, I know about the Medical Insurance Industry and its business model.

Obama's speech laid out a plan that addresses the worst practices of the Insurance cartel and reins in costs. It also includes a Public Option.

If you really listen to the DU'ers STILL agitating you realize that the only thing that would have worked for them was Obama committing himself to pulling the plug on Medical Insurance.

Sadly, these DU'ers were full of crap when they said the wanted a Public OPTION. What they really wanted was an end to private Insurance companies entirely and immediately.

[The Magistrate]

1. Indeed, Ma'am: Private Insurance Companies Are the Problem, And Real Reform Requires Destroying Them

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Of course, but what kind of odds to you believe such a reform would have?

[The Magistrate]

14. At Present, Ma'am, Unfortunately, It Is Beyond The Power Available To Us

But we need to be clear-eyed about the goal, and engage in debate with it in mind. People who say they like their insurance company are largely people who have never had to press a substantial claim on their policies. Education is needed badly on the problem, and its roots.

[johnaries]

29. Agreed. Some Republicans decry the PO because they claim

that it is a gateway to eventually establish a single-payer system. I pray that is true. But, they said the same thing about MediCare and MediCaid.

Single-payer is the best option, but it's simply not a realistic goal at this point. It has been presented at every single session of Congress by Dingell and others for the past 40 years and has never been brought to a vote. It cannot pass.

The Public Option at least has a better chance, although it will still be a tough fight.

[KittyWampus]

5. yes, and since there's no slingshot in Obama's arsenal, he's going for a different strategy

other than landing a single well-placed and lethal stone in the giant's eye.

[The Magistrate]

16. Perhaps, Ma'am

It is not clear to me President Obama actually has this goal in mind, though as a man of great intelligence he may well have.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

21. Thank you, sir.

[librechik]

26. yeah, the public option would kill the insurance industry. Like libraries have killed bookstores

Like public schools have destroyed private schools. Like Medicare has destroyed the i--oh wait. Medicare didn't destroy the insurance industry. Huh.

[MNDemNY]

8. +1 !!!!!

A strong public option WILL do just that, over time.that is why...NO PUBLIC OPTION...NO BILL.

[whathehell]

3. I agree.

The one thing I do worry about is the apparent "fact" that you can't buy into the public option IF you're employer is insuring you.

[madinmaryland]

4. And Killing off the the Insurance Industry is a bad thing?

That would be the ideal result, but realistically it could never happen.

[KittyWampus]

7. that's my point madinmaryland.

[ddeclue]

6. "The Insurance Company Business Model"

Obama sold us out last night - sorry if you want to make excuses but he did.

[KittyWampus]

9. No, he stood up for the Public Option. Just because there was no stake through the heart

of Medical Insurance doesn't mean he didn't.

[ddeclue]

17. No he lawyered up and said a public option would be nice.

no line in the sand at all.

Only line in the sand was on adding to the national debt.

[T Wolf]

10. We were given the PO as a consolation prize for never getting universal care, and now that

public option is gone as well.

The resistance that the Dems would have gotten if they tried to eliminate private, for-profit health care would not be any stronger than what they are reaping now with this bullshit, window-dressing, preserve-and-boost-the-insurance-corps crap sandwich. Only now, some on the left will join those saying "No" for other reasons rather than swallow this bogus improvement.

Maybe some day a real Democrat will get back into the White House. Congress is a lost cause.

[KittyWampus]

12. It isn't gone. The Public Option is not gone.

[ddeclue]

18. yes it is - you need to listen to words like "can" and "may"

it's lawyer speak for "no".

[debbierlus]

11. Public Option? A real public option requires the ability for everyone to participate

Obama stated yesterday that the public option would not be available to those with employer insurance and he estimated only 5% of the population would sign up.

The ENTIRE point of a public option was to provide competition to the insurance companies, so they would be forced to compete and bring down costs. With such small enrollments, it will be impossible for the public option to compete with insurance companies.

Further, he stated there will be no subsidies for a public option (there WILL be subsidies to private insurance), so it will be financially unsupported.

Obama did not advocate for a public option last night. He minimized it as a small component that wouldn't provide hardly any competition and dismissed the majority of Americans who want it - stating it was 'ONLY a means to an end'.

Obama campaigned on every American having the ability to sign up for a government program like he enjoyed in the Senate.

He campaigned against mandates.

Last night, Obama sold out the country to big insurance.

[mntleo2]

13. No Apologies Here

I am very much for the death of the insurance companies ~ or at the very least resducing them to something smaller and less powerful. All of them. If I were "king for a day" I would allow them to insure for a private room in a hospital, breast augmentation, or other things. But no longer do I want them to make decisions for the doctor. No longer do I want them to profit off of others' health. I do not think health care should be for profit AT ALL.

I do not apologize for that. The way it is right now for insurance companies is plain and simply WRONG.

Cat In Seattle

[NNN0LHI]

15. Explain how a public option or even universal care would kill the insurance industry?

I don't buy that suggestion. My employer Ford Motor Company is self insured. Meaning they hire Blue Cross to handle our claims for a percentage of what they process. I think Blue Cross does the same for Medicare.

I don't subscribe to the idea that the insurance companies will be killed? Someone is going to have to do the paper work no matter what happens?

Am I right?

Don

[dbonds]

19. I would like to see the end to private health insurance companies...

I don't think there should be a profit motive in health care (which is not saying that doctors and health workers shouldn't get paid, they should be paid well). But I'm not turned off by Obama's plan. It will help reform the current mess and show people the public option isn't a bad thing. Other than a revolution where all of us march in the street for days and days, I don't think more is possible at this moment.

[katandmoon]

20. Unrec.

[Lilith Velkor]

22. Insurance companies exist in Europe, they're just not allowed to kill people for profit

Taking away the knife they hold at our collective throat is not the same as killing them, even though they seem to think so.

Even if it is, it's justifiable because it's self defense.

[endarkenment]

23. +1

[omega minimo]

24. Anyone paying any attention to details, realizes that your shorthand is entirely "full of crap"

"Obama's speech laid out a plan that addresses the worst practices of the Insurance cartel and reins in costs. It also includes a Public Option."

That's inaccurate and misleading bullshit.

Or the kind of language the Repukes use that isn't actually true but isn't actually false.

[Orsino]

25. It wouldn't hurt us to put in place a single-payer system now...

...that covers the uninsured, or many of them, that the big insurers weren't going to touch.

Universal single-payer should be the work of years or even decades, but we could commit to it now, with a timetable. There need be no catastrophic loss of jobs.

[Blasphemer]

27. I want a public option that will eventually lead to the death of for-profit insurance

It wouldn't happen in one fell swoop. They tell us that most people like their insurance. They can keep it. Those that don't should be able to opt for a public plan at any time (or, more likely, specific yearly open enrollment periods if they already have insurance). If the insurance industry has so many happy, healthy customers, then I see no reason why a public plan should not be available to everyone. Based on 75% of people supposedly being happy with their coverage, the uninsured and those potentially electing the plan would equal 110 million Americans. Leaving the insurance industry with a majority of Americans for however long it takes for most people to switch over to the public plan.

[lapislzi]

28. That is completely true. Nothing would have made me happier.

However, I understand what politics is all about. Such an act was a political impossibility and will likely remain so for the near to middle term. We can, however, doom the insurance industry to death by a thousand cuts, and that would be fine with me, even if it doesn't happen in my lifetime. The pace is maddeningly slow right now, but like every other games, politics is one of momentum. I'm for building some up while public opinion is still on our side.

Edited for spelling.