Protect The Insurance Company Profits

Something Terrible Has Happened...

The Public Option is gaining ground.  What's next...Milk and Cookies for War Criminals?  Would Dick Cheney be first in line for that one?  Can his heart even handle that anymore?

The public option will be debated in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, and although it is definitely an uphill climb, replacing these worthless health care co-ops with a strong, robust public option is no only possible, but absolutely necessary.  Senators Schumer and Rockefeller will introduce an amendment to the Finance Committee bill that will replace co-ops with a public option.  Why are they doing this you ask?  Maybe it's because co-ops aren't an alternative, they're meaningless.  Maybe it's because a public option is by far the cheapest, most cost effective reform measure?

This much is absolutely clear to anyone with half a brain: the public option not only increases choice, but also decreases cost to both the consumer and the nation.  Apparently Kent Conrad is at around 10% brain power since he still doesn't get this.  

I don't think a government-run plan best fits this culture. A plan that's not government-run has the best chance of succeeding in being passed into law.

According to Senator Conrad, a public option can't work because of....our culture?  Seriously Senator?  Culture?  Who have you been listening to Senator? Glenn Beck?  Does a public option run in opposition to White, American Culture?

But I digress.  Regardless of whether a public option goes counter to the history of American culture, it's cheaper and more effective.  According to Congress Daily, the Congressional Budget Office has stated:

In total, a public plan based on Medicare rates would save $110 billion over 10 years. That is $20 billion more than earlier estimates, a spokesman for House Speaker Pelosi said.

The public plan saves money because it pushes down premium prices. Lower premium prices across the country would mean the government would have to pay less in subsidies to low-income people who buy insurance through the exchange, according to CBO. Medicare rates are typically lower than those paid by private insurers, so using that formula would allow the public plan to charge considerably lower premiums to stay solvent.

In other words, the Blue Dogs want to spend $85 billion more than the liberals do. Moreover, the CBO is estimating savings to the government. Essentially, the $85 billion reflects reduced federal spending. In fact, savings for individuals and businesses paying lower premiums will be much larger than $85 billion, and politically, much more important.  

Due to these savings, it seems as if the Blue Dogs in the House are starting to come around on the public option.  24 Blue Dogs have said they support a public option, a far cry from the less than a dozen that Blue Dog co-chair Stephanie Herseth Sandlin could muster.  Combine the cost savings with the fact that 54% of residents in Blue Dog districts support a public plan, and you have a recipe for progressive success.

Still, why are some so intent on protecting an industry that is partly responsible for creating the current health care crisis?  Is it because the health insurance industry has spent at least $585,725,712 lobbying Congress to protect its investments and defeat competition from a public option?

Every dollar squeezed out of the private insurance company's profits is a dollar less that we'll have to pay either in healthcare costs or in taxes to cover healthcare costs. The two most direct ways to squeeze future profits are allowing Medicare to use its huge bargaining leverage to negotiate lower drug prices, and creating a public insurance option to compete with private insurers and also use its bargaining clout to get lower prices and thereby push private insurers to offer lower rates.  

Or we can continue to sit by and allow health insurers to gouge the elderly by charging them five times more than younger Americans.  The health insurance companies are able to keep our selfish interests in check when we can't. They are truly American heroes.

What's so American about competition anyway?