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UPDATED Reid: Health Care Bill Will Have a Public Option...of One Kind or Another
Brian Beutler | October 1, 2009, 6:23PM
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev)
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This article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal is making the rounds, and it seems at a glance like great news for reformers.
"We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president's desk," Reid said in a conference call with constituents, referring to some kind of government plan.
"I believe the public option is so vitally important to create a level playing field and prevent the insurance companies from taking advantage of us," he said.
True enough, he did say that. But speaking to reporters today, he also said, "Remember, a public option is a relative term. There's a public option, there's a public option, and there's a public option, and we're going to look at each of them."
Things aren't always what they seem.
Late update: A Reid aid says, "Sen. Reid believes that health insurance reform must include a mechanism to keep insurers honest, create competition and keep costs down. He feels that the public option is the best way to do that. While we don't know exactly what that option will look like, Sen. Reid, working with President Obama, will ensure that whatever is included in the final bill does just that."
So there you have it.
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ohyeathatsright
October 1, 2009 6:35 PM
I'd like to hear more about the differences between the public option, the public option, and the public option.
Reid doesn't have anymore fence to sit on saying crap like this.
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Doc Magnus
October 1, 2009 7:25 PM in reply to ohyeathatsright
One more and he could sit on a center post at Four Corners.
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Chris
October 1, 2009 9:48 PM in reply to ohyeathatsright
hahahahaha...the difference would be one is a public option that Reid entirely enjoys for himself. The other would be a public option they want to deny to everyone else. And the last one would be a public option Reid says he supports but is too chicken to put it on the floor.
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impik
October 2, 2009 2:26 AM in reply to ohyeathatsright
What's not clear? :)
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mcc
October 1, 2009 6:36 PM
It seems like if we can get them to admit there has to be "something like a public option" we've trapped them into granting most of our argument. If you've accepted the government should create a new player in the insurance space the debate then becomes over which form of government-sponsored player would be best, and it's fairly easy to argue that the full "strong public option" HELP and the House Democrats want is the best, most effective, most affordable such option on the table.
Of course, this assumes the "there will be something like a public option" promise is in good faith and isn't just a trap door so that when they fail to get the public option in the bill, they can stave off criticism from the left with "but we kept our promise, there's a trigger for a potential regional co-op in 2013!"
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bluebell
October 1, 2009 7:16 PM in reply to mcc
All you've trapped them into is branding whatever version of corporate welfare they chose as the "public option". They've learned from the Bushies. Remember the Patriot Act written to deprive us of civil liberties?
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Cal Gal
October 1, 2009 10:25 PM in reply to bluebell
I can relate to your cynicism but I'm trying hard to maintain a glass half full of optimism.
I keep trying to remember sausage is being made, and in the end there is the Conference Committee. I believe Reid appoints Senators to the Conference Committee.
Pray for Sen. Byrd. He'll have them wheel him in on a gurney if he's needed.
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wbgonne
October 1, 2009 6:43 PM
"there's a trigger for a potential regional co-op in 2013"
Bulls-eye. We must insist on a real public option. Nationwide. No triggers. No coops.
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Tanjaoui
October 1, 2009 6:57 PM in reply to wbgonne
A trigger for regional co-ops...subcontracted out to private insurance companies, of course. Don't forget that.
We have to nail Reid down. He's a lawyer. And a lawyer beholden to private insurers and drug makers.
A national public option not subject to triggers and modeled on Medicare, based on Medicare rates. It saves real money, for consumers, for our nation.
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wbgonne
October 1, 2009 7:06 PM in reply to Tanjaoui
Yes, it seems something must be done to appease Conrad (maybe it already has). His "reasoned" opposition was that a PO tied to Medicare rates would bankrupt every hospital in North Dakota.
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benjoya
October 1, 2009 7:28 PM
"..and by 'Public,' I mean 'Private.' And by 'Option,' I mean 'Mandate.' "
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Rich in NJ
October 1, 2009 7:57 PM
Robust. Public. Option.
That is all.
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synchronicity
October 1, 2009 8:09 PM
This guy is way to maleable on this issue. We need to stay on top of him... just last week it was 'a trigger is a pretty doggarn good idea'... now he sounds more serious.
Congress has highly overestimated the willingness of the American people to accept a mandate without a real, functioning, robust public option. I think it is key that we remind them of this until this bill is signed, sealed, and delivered 'with' a real public option.
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Gator_fan
October 1, 2009 8:38 PM
The important thing is the Public Option coming out of the senate and into the conference. That way, we can take the House's more liberal public option and vote out the conference report which can't be filibustered.
The only other thing I'd want is for this all to start Jan. 1, 2010 and not in 2013. I'm hopeful, since the President referenced catastrophic coverage as a stopgap, the political folks recognize they need to show tangible benefits from JUMP.
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Cal Gal
October 1, 2009 10:21 PM
Kind reminds me of Rummy:
There are the public options you know.
There are the public options you know you don't know.
And there are the public options you don't know you don't know.
I guess he'll know it when he see's it?
Still, good news in a funny way. That's not funny ha-ha, that's funny strange.
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sunnysteve
October 1, 2009 10:31 PM
Note to Reid: Deliver to Obama a bill which contains a true, robust public option, and you just might get reelected.
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wbgonne
October 2, 2009 7:04 AM
Reid is using the same functional language that Obama has been. If they are sincere -- which I devoutly hope -- that's not bad because NO ONE has proposed ANYTHING that accomplishes what the public option does other than the public option. It is possible that the non-committal language is designed to grease the legislation through into conference where the "mechanism to keep insurers honest, create competition and keep costs down" -- i.e., the public option -- will be added.
That's my hope and my expectation. OTOH, if they are playing word games, there will be hell to pay.
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ivy22
October 2, 2009 7:09 AM
Medicare of all. Plain and simple and super effective.
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AJM
October 2, 2009 7:44 AM
CArper's proposal is not a public option: It's the "I Shrunk the Public Option" Insurance Deal.
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