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Carper Amendment Allows for State-Based and Regional Public Plans
Brian Beutler | October 1, 2009, 5:55PM
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)
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One of the nice peculiarities of the Senate Finance Committee is that they base all of their deliberations on bills and amendments written in plain English. So if you want to see a version of Sen. Tom Carper's public option alternative, here it is.
It would allow states to pick one of the following three options:
1. Participate as grantees in the CO-OP program and apply for seed funding.
2. Open up that state's employee benefits plan.
3. Create a state administered health insurance plan with the option of banding together
with other states to create a regional insurance compact.
And provide any seed money needed to accomplish the chosen goal, so long as it's deficit neutral. Wonder how the administration feels about this? So do I, and I'm trying to find out.
I'm also still unsure if and when this will be introduced, but I'll keep you posted.
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mcc
October 1, 2009 6:28 PM
The states are all going bankrupt and begging for the federal government to bail them out. Here in California we are slashing our medical coverage programs already. And the states that are struggling just to function are now supposed to start insurance programs? Just imagine, 50 struggling little public options all dumping on the market at the same time, each only available in their own little feifdoms. Can anyone imagine this actually working, or working in more than a handful of states?
We need a plan to catch those persons who the for-profit ensurers fail. This is the standard any public option "alternative" or "compromise" must meet, and which every compromise proposed so far has failed to meet. "Maybe the states will do something at some point, I guess" is a particularly pathetic way of failing to produce a plan. This proposal is a tactic for getting liberals to shut up, not a solution to any actual problem.
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Stroszek
October 1, 2009 9:47 PM in reply to mcc
The whole point of the public option is that it's not financed out of the budget but by participant premiums. To that extent, this amendment would have to allocate federal "seed money" to states, but I'd much sooner have this in the Finance bill than nothing. The provision that multiple states can form compacts would also seem to suggest that this could slowly expand into a national program.
In regards to needing a plan to catch those who the for-profit ensurers fail... well, not even the strongest public option could be that plan for the reasons stated above. If the public option were simply to be a dumping ground for the chronically ill, it would have to raise premiums astronomically.
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Russell
October 1, 2009 6:57 PM
Maybe the reason "50 states are all going bankrupt and begging ..." is because they are being forced to pay these outrageous insurance fees for state and local employees ....
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PorkBelly
October 1, 2009 8:31 PM
Weak. Sounds a lot like Conrad's plan which sucked as well.
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rynato
October 1, 2009 11:16 PM
What a terrible idea. I live in Arizona and I guarantee you that even if the 'conventional' public option was proven the cheapest and best, our knuckle-dragging Legislature would refuse to choose it.
"Let the states decide" is short-hand for, "let the lobbyists divide and conquer".
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rynato
October 1, 2009 11:17 PM
Should call it the Crappy Amendment instead.
Why oh why are we trying so damned hard to avoid doing what is simplest and proven to work best? SINGLE PAYER.
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FightTheFascism
October 2, 2009 2:00 AM
The Carper Amendment is worse than nothing:
http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/01/worse-than-nothing-carpers-alternative/
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AJM
October 2, 2009 7:36 AM
Sell out, Sell out, Sell out! Sounds like Carper just wanted something with the words Public Option in it so he could 'explain' to his state why he voted against what they wanted.
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Obey
October 2, 2009 8:56 AM
This 'optional-public-option' idea isn't the worst thing out there. It's better than a trigger, and better than Schumer's PO. Depends on whether they can piggy-back on some other plan to negotiate rates. If they can piggy-back Medicare, that would be best, maybe second best the state-employee plan.
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Elizabeth2
October 2, 2009 9:00 AM
I assume that most of you making comments above are strong proponents of a single-payer system. Correct? Are you familiar with the process by which Canada adopted that system? Might be worth checking out. Sometimes those who fail to appreciate history may be condemned NOT to repeat it.
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Andreams
October 2, 2009 10:27 AM
Having states be the decision makers as to whether or not we have access to affordable coverage while federally mandating fines for not purchasing insurance is more than stupid. I'm a strong believer in reform and in the public option but I am not in favor of this.
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daveincolorado
October 2, 2009 10:40 AM
i keep saying: we're going to end up with a watered down compromise bill just to please all the right and left wing conservatives that won't do much. And they still won't vote for it.
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miguelmas
October 2, 2009 11:18 AM
Send this video to your congress critters and Sitenchairs, er I mean Stentators.... This is the true face of what is at stake here... These are the people Grayson is referring to...and millions more like them... including me and my family..
If you grab the moving button on the timeline you can read the signs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV3ci4mR8AI
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Jonathan Edelstein
October 2, 2009 2:31 PM
The regional-compact provision might actually make this a good idea. If states can join together to establish public plans, then they can set up purchasing pools big enough to play hardball. Rhode Island on its own couldn't keep the insurers honest; the Northeast could.
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