Dean says open up Medicare to show tangible results by 2010...otherwise Dems will suffer.

[madfloridian]

He points out that if no results are evident until 2013, there will be problems for the Democratic party.

Public option must show tangible results by next year..Dean

Dean said he expects the more liberal House Democrats to "to pull the Senate back" by insisting on a public option of some form in the final bill. "We have to be able to choose between a public option and a private option," he said, adding that no such option is in the Senate Finance Committee bill.

But he also warned that the public option may hurt Democrats politically next year. "If the Democrats want to hold on to their majority, you're going to have a problem," he said. That's because the public option wouldn't be up and running until 2013, long after the 2010 elections, meaning voters won't really see any benefits until long after the election.

To address that problem, Dean said Democrats need to do something that will have tangible results by next summer. His proposal: opening up Medicare to people over the age of 50 so that a "certain mass" of people will already have benefited from health reform by the elections. "You need to have people sign up for this program by July 2010," Dean said.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. My cynic heart tells me this is the goal

no result...

Yes, go ahead call me a cynic.

[Traveling_Home]

2. I think it's even worse than that...

3 years of increases in fees and payments and mandates and ... before anything kick in......

That can't ever make us look good

[kenny blankenship]

4. 3 years of weeding out people that they won't make top dollar on

so they can be dumped on the public option and damage its viability as a self-funding plan from Day One.

Lovely stuff from the worst bunch of rat fuckers on the planet.

[kestrel91316]

3. Medicare for all. NOW.

[Overseas]

5. Open Up Medicare! Single Payer Now !

That's what I chanted at our pro-reform rally recently.

It is clear and effective and more immediate than the complex public option plans being considered that will then have to be discussed for a few more years.

We are desperate for a bailout NOW-- not in 2013. We are hurting NOW. Open up Medicare already.

[defendandprotect]

6. k i c k

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. This has been my concern all along

The RW noise machine will be ginned up about socialized medicine killing granny for 3 years and we won't have a thing to prove them wrong.

We need results and quickly or 2012 is history.

[joeycola]

9. 3 years of limping along witl only bring more folks over

to repugs or to the independents (Dems are losing folks to independents as it is now based on the last poll I saw).

[madfloridian]

12. They are acting fearful instead of acting like a majority party.

.

[joeycola]

8. GREAT idea Mr. Dean.

[joeycola]

10. Dean: Public Option Will Hurt Democrats in 2010 Elections

Note the headline--says Will
Now note the first sentence-says Could.


But I love the solution. I do think the Dems have to be proactive.


http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2009/10/07/dean-public-option-will-hurt-democrats-in-2010-elections.html


Dean: Public Option Will Hurt Democrats in 2010 Elections

The former governor also said he thinks Schumer's plan can pass
By Kent Garber
Posted October 7, 2009

Former Gov. Howard Dean said this morning that the public option for health insurance still has a chance in the Senate but warned that its passage could hurt Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections.

[madfloridian]

11. The headline was skewed to be misleading.

I picked out what Dean was really saying. The wrong from of the public option is as bad as nothing at all.

They all seem scared of the insurance companies, and the media doesn't help at all.

[Kermitt Gribble]

13. Why have any age limit at all?

Give everyone the option of signing up for Medicare. I completely agree with Dr. Dean except for the age limit.

[mdmc]

14. --