"Liberals Against Health Care Reform Are Nuts"

[impik]

....But now there's a groundswell of very prominent liberals -- Howard Dean, echoed by liberal group blogs across the country -- saying we should kill the bill. Why? Because it doesn't have a public option (or a Medicare buy-in). But people, this is a reason to be disappointed, not schizo-kamikaze crazy.

The public option was never going to be the uppercase enter-the-government-bargaining-pressure Public Option. It was going to be limited to the exchanges anyway. There was never evidence that the lowercase p.o. in the bills would actually bring down health care costs. Liberals liked the p.o. because they considered it a necessary step toward a better health care system.

But you know what's really a necessary step toward a better health care system? Passing health care reform...

....As I understand it, nobody in his right mind thought we were could to trash private insurance and build some quixotic system that brilliantly mixed subsidies, health savings accounts and government catastrophic coverage. It was always about getting one big fat Shaq-sized shoe in door. This bill isn't a magical elixir. It's just a big shoe. That should be good enough.


http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/12/liberals_against_health_care_reform_are_nuts.php

[Armstead]

1. Well then, call me nuts

[yourout]

2. Sorry to disagree.....no Public Option......no mandate.

And if the insurance companies fight us its...

Drop the pre-existing conditions and right to deny coverage or kiss your Anti-trust exemption goodbye.

[grantcart]

3. Not because it doesn't have a public option

Because it doesn't have cost controls.

One of the President's key points was that it had to have cost controls to "bend the curve in the outlying years".

If this could be accomplished without a public option then we would have something to argue about.

Without the Public Option there is no increase in competition, no cost control and the justification for taking all of the heat for an individual mandate are gone.

Now re read the article

All of the benefits are listed below

Not one word on increasing competition or cost control. Increasing medical loss ratio nothing



- Insurers have to take all comers. They can't turn you down for a preexisting condition or cut you off after you get sick.
- Community rating. Within a few broad classes, everyone gets charged the same amount for insurance.
- Individual mandate. I know a lot of liberals hate this, but how is it different from a tax? And its purpose is sound: it keeps the insurance pool broad and insurance rates down.
- A significant expansion of Medicaid.
- Subsidies for low and middle income workers that keeps premium costs under 10% of income.
- Limits on ER charges to low-income uninsured emergency patients.
- Caps on out-of-pocket expenses.
- A broad range of cost-containment measures.
- A dedicated revenue stream to support all this.



You have to be crazy to support this bill not oppose it.

[Clio the Leo]

4. I always felt that if the PO passed....

.... the end result was that folks were going to be dissapointed when they couldn't use it.

People were always going to be dissapointed ..... they're just at that phase more early than I expected. lol

[IndianaGreen]

5. Liberals are not against health care reform, but they are against health insurance bailout

which is what the Lieberman/Obama bill is.

[YOY]

6. Against heath care reform? No they are not against that. They are against this bill.

And if you cannot figure out what they don't like about the bill then you haven't read it.

[midnight]

7. We don't need an insurance broker.

This is the whole folly about this system.. The other folly is to believe we only are entitled to" getting one big fat Shaq-sized shoe in door". Possibly you are not in need of pain treatment that is being denied to yourself or family member. And one does not have to be labeled a liberal to see this is the wrong direction for the consumer. This is a win for the insurance co.

[depakid]

8. against health reform?

:rofl:

Spin away....

And if you "win" this policy battle- enjoy your failing system (along with the cries from the right: "look at _______. What did we tell you- health care reform doesn't work").