esrosedotblog

WHAT'S IN A NAME

When I read the rumors about a "deal" the other day I was amused to note that somehow they had managed to scuttle the so called "public option" and substituted something(s) that have no name at all. Extend the age limits for Medicare for half the population and setup a non-profit administrator for a plan modeled after the government employee system.

There is nothing new in either of these ideas except that, before, they were put forth as 100% plans in which either Medicare would open for everyone in need of insurance or the government employee plan would be available to all who could not get another commercial plan.

This is rather clever actually.

The "public option" title has drawn so much fire that it is radioactive. This new construct which is basically the same idea is much harder to argue against (although many will try) and it does not have the "history". And, it is like a trojan horse. Once across the border it has a legion of opportunities for unpacking into a universal insurance plan which many (65%+/-) people would like to be a part of.

Read this: Public Option Keeps Toehold in Senate Deal on Health Bill

Most of the opposition is electoral. Enough Senators are in jeopardy in their red tinged home states over their support for this thing that will have "death panels" and rationed care. Never mind that we ration it now in the market place. Aetna is rationing so much as to drop 650,000 policy holders next year to raise their profit targets. Some rationing. Some death panel. The "free market".

Anyway, I like watching the show.

Oh. I should say that one Senator stands out as totally loyal to his business roots. Lieberman, the whiner, has had 7 different reasons he has been against the public optionat different times. And everyone knows there is only one reason. He is in the pockets of his state's enormous insurance industry. Period. Oh. And he is an obstructionist, ego driven asshole. That too.

Labels: Administration Obama, health, medicine