Magic words - 'public option'

[Are_grits_groceries]

People can get hung up on phrases and not be able to see what they represent. 'Public option' is a phrase that has become the cause celebre. If there isn't a public option, reform will be toothless to many. However, what is a 'public option?' If people were to write down what they think it means, there would probably be as many different answers. It is a horrible, amorphous bit of jargon to start with. Over time, it has morphed into many different forms. The necessary change then became known as the 'robust public option.'

I know basically what I would like to see in health care reform. These are some of my basics off the top of my head.
-regulation of pricing (Even without a government run system, strict regulation can achieve a lot of the same things.)
-no denial because of pre-existing conditions
-no sudden dropping of coverage
-reasonable premiums
-lower drug prices (negotiate real change or let people easily order them from Canada)
-let children remain on their parent's plans for a longer time

I want to know what exactly is going to be in the bill if they have dropped the public option. If they are going to expand Medicaid and Medicare, who will that cover? What will be done to help those that may not fall within a covered group?

Compare the public option that was left with the new system. Neither one will do everything that I want I'm sure. Which one offers the best reform overall? I don't know. I'm not sure what I was getting in the public option that was on the table anyway.

I don't trust anybody. However, they may have backdoored the process into producing a stronger system than was expected. The Rethugs and LIEberman are frothing over the 'public option.' If it is a weaker plan now anyway, dump it. I'm sure they won't like what is proposed, but they will be in a position of discrediting Medicare if they attack it. People like that system.

They have helped make the 'public option' such a huge issue that if it is gone, it may be easier to back some of them into a corner to vote for what is now on the table. You have to keep your eye on the ball. In this case, it wasn't the 2 words 'public option.' The ball and the entire game is meaningful change. They can have those 2 words if real reform is started.

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. Bingo.

The 'public option' turned into an empty shibboleth four months ago, and anyone who’s still treating it as a make-or-break is every bit as guilty of empty, gestural politics as Rep. Stupak.

The announcement of its death, even if incorrect, has had the salutary effect of revealing who’s just in this for the political theater.

[NJmaverick]

2. Now there you go being all logical reasonable

that will never fly around here:hi:

[Jenny_92808]

3. I want our dem leaders to grow a pair....

I am angry!

[NJmaverick]

11. Anger rarely leads to anything good

[Are_grits_groceries]

6. It's my fatal flaw.

The Greeks said everybody has one.:hi:

[HipChick]

4. I don't understand the make or break on public option

when it was only going to help a very small % of the population

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. Me neither. But people far more important than us...

...have so decreed.

[Blasphemer]

7. If they had gone for a STRICT regulation of the insurance industry from the get-go I would have...

been in favor of it. I am very leary of what may become a mish-mash of different ideas instead of a decisive move in one particular direction. If they were proposing a Dutch or Swiss style regulation of the insurance industry, I would be all for it. It seems that lawmakers were surprised over the fact that the so-called public option became a line in the sand but that only came to pass because of the weakness of their proposals. They would have had WIDE support for heavily regulating health insurers but the fact that they never gave serious consideration to such an idea makes me extremely leary of just what they hope to accomplish.

[Are_grits_groceries]

8. I like the idea of

expanding Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs already in place. There is a system set up already that may just need to be enlarged. People are used to these programs, and that should make it easier for them to accept the new forms.
I still don't know why this wasn't pushed for harder. They have been reinventing the wheel.

[tavalon]

9. My desired option was never on the table

and never will be because America is selfish, just incredibly selfish.

[Toots]

10. Remember what Winston Churchhill said about America

"America will always do what's right, after trying everything else first." Let's hope he was correct in that statement..

[FlaGatorJD]

12. Without a public option, how is it possible to obtain "reasonable" premiums?

If every American has the ability to snub their noses at private insurers,
and simply go to the government-run option, then and I believe, only then,
will premiums become "reasonable".

I'm just saying :shrug:

Although I still support the President 100%, party because I believe he deserves
a few years to make any substatial changes due to what he inherited, I feel he
missed a golden opportunity with this health care bill. It appears he was too
afraid to lose, so he soft pedaled it.

We should have crammed this damn thing down the GOP throats, just like they did
while in power, on anything and everything they wanted. It would have shown that
Obama and the Democrats are really willing to make changes necessary. In the end,
we will get a bill that makes substantial and beneficial changes, but in the eyes
of many, including moi, the moneyed-interests in DC, including the politicians and the insurance
companies will have succeeded essentially with "business as usual".

PS-When I was little, we used to have grits with breakfast, and I'm pretty
sure my mom got them at the grocery store. In the afternoons we'd have
boiled peanuts and pork rinds.

[Are_grits_groceries]

14. Mmmmmmmmm! Boiled peanuts....my fave! nt

[backscatter712]

13. Like I posted: Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but the Medicare buy-in IS a public option...

We're just not calling it a public option. But it's still allowing a large group of people to pay into a government run health care program. How is this different from a public option?

[maryf]

15. Here's some answers

I would feel guilty promoting my own OP if the answers herein from a true expert weren't so clear...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7187382

[Are_grits_groceries]

16. I don't mind your OP.

However, I don't think he addresses the new idea about expanding Medicare. He's not impressed with what has become of the public option. Neither am I.
I want to know how the new proposal works, and what improvements it makes.

[maryf]

17. Thanks, Actually I know him

And well enought that I can confidently state that he believes in an expanded and improved Medicare for All... that's a secondary moniker for Single Payer Health Care!

BTW, I forgot to K&R before, here it is!

[Are_grits_groceries]

18. That's good to know!

I'll keep him in mind. It's hard to tell who's who anymore!

[maryf]

19. He's often at www.pnhp.org

Physicians for a National Health Plan...