Rockefeller to Baucus, Conrad: Co-ops Are a Sham, Public Option Is a Must

[cal04]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/rockefeller-to-baucus-conrad-co-ops-are-a-sham-public-option-is-a-must.php?ref=fpa

When it became clear several weeks ago that negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee were planning to pursue a private co-op model instead of a public option in their health reform bill, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)--a senior member of that committee, and chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee--undertook a study into the history and effectiveness of health insurance co-operatives.

As part of that study, he asked the Government Accountability Office to bring together all of the research it had done over the years into the effectiveness of co-ops in the insurance market. Today, he sent a fairly scathing letter to Finance chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and chief co-op advocate Kent Conrad (D-ND) regarding the results.

Rockefeller, who says he regards the public option as a "must," writes, "there has been no significant research into consumer co-ops as a model for the broad expansion of health insurance. What we do know, however, is that this model was tried in the early part of the 20th century and largely failed."


Document
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/documents/2009/09/rockefeller-to-baucus-conrad-co-ops-are-a-sham.php?page=1

[The Wielding Truth]

1. IMO, if you don't include a PO, the ins. corps. will slide around any laws.

much like the Credit card companies who when restricted in one area moved their sticky fingers into other openings and extracted our money. They have no competition and no reason to play fair.

[Pyrzqxgl]

2. How do we get Baucus out of the Senate?

When is he up for reelection?
He's just in the way. He hurts
his state & his country by being
in the pocket of the insurance
industry.

[Omnibus]

6. Unfortunately, he was reelected in 2008.

I'd like to see him stripped of his committee chairmanship, but with the ineffectual Harry Reid in charge, that seems unlikely too.

[quiet.american]

3. K&R nt

[Faryn Balyncd]

4. K & R

[Hepburn]

5. Yay, Jay!!!

:loveya: