This robust support for the public option -- in what most observers consider the most conservative committee in the Senate -- signals a sea change in Congressional opinion toward the public option. The odds are now very high that some form of public health insurance option will be included on the final bill when it emerges from a House-Senate Conference Committee later this fall and is ultimately passed by Congress.
A Robert Woods Johnson Report indicates that over the last ten years wages have gone up 29%, health insurance rates have gone up 120% and the profits of the private health insurance industry have gone up 428%. No wonder insurance companies don't want competition!!A public option in the market place will drive down the prices of premiums for private insurance. That, of course, is why the private insurance companies hate it. Insurance companies aren't seriously worried they will be forced out of business. They just don't want to cut their prices and profits.
The Congressional Budget Office has found that it will save the Government huge amounts in subsidy monies that it would otherwise have to pay to make more expensive for-profit plans affordable. The most robust version of the public option saves over $100 billion over ten years.
If you don't have a public option, Congress' only choice is either to cut subsidies that are the major means of providing affordability -- or they must raise more revenues. Given the massive need for affordability, and reluctance of many to raise taxes, the public option is looking better and better to many swing Democrats.
Sens. Harkin, Schumer and Rockefellar are speaking very positively tonight. They believe the bill will be on the presidents desk this year and it WILL have the public option! Don't believe the conservative pundits, they will be all over this story showing it in a bad light. What happened today was positive. A majority of this country wants the PO, and we will get it!
Now thats what I wanna hear!!
read more at Huffington Post
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/growing-momentum-for-publ_b_303415.htmWhat are the reasons for the resurgent congressional support for the PO?? Well for one, voter support is as strong as ever, and two, members of congress will have to live with the consequences of what they pass for years to come.So what does this all mean?? This is a victory for dems today, don't be fooled by conservative pundits talk and there will be lots of it!! Though it's down, the public option is not out. "The public option is on the march," Rockefeller said.
14 comments:
With insurance becoming a requirement, they'll have to make it available. Plan B, if they don't, won't bode well.
I wish I could share your optimism.
Sue ~ I would hardly call the Huffington Post a non-partisan source for your "statistics". 428%profit increase??? Wrong!
Try reading something more believable...
http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2009/8/25/why-health-insurers-make-lousy-villains.html
AND more people trust dems more then repugs, linda!
1. "More Americans Believe In UFOs Than Oppose A Public Option," Media Matters, September 29, 2009
http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/200909290001
2. "Insurance and HMO Industries Spend Nearly $700,000 Per Day to Kill Health Care Reform Measures," Public Campaign Action Fund, September 15, 2009.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=84720&id=17382-10606373-3CW_Trx&t=6
3. "In Poll, Public Wary of Obama on War and Health," The New York Times, September 24, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/us/politics/25poll.html
4. "Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option," National Public Radio, September 14, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=84786&id=17382-10606373-3CW_Trx&t=7
5."Small Business Owners Say Cutting Health Care Costs, Need for Reform are Top Concerns," Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, December 3, 2008
http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=36550
And more red states are the biggest customers of porn than blue, according to the Journal of Economic Perspectives.
Looks like the bible belt got some clear heels to match. So much for family values.
I just heard on NPR that a study by Kaiser & a couple of other groups finds that most Americans feel they aren't being listened to and they want a public option.
Gosh, I miss reading your blog.
CDM ~ I am assuming from your comment that you believe that those partaking in the porn are Bible believers. Is that assumption stemming from the fact that since they live in the "Bible belt" that that means they are Christians? I fail to see ANY logic in your statement. Until you produce a verifiable stats sheet breaking down who is and who is not watching porn in the red states, then your statement is pretty much a waste of breath...wouldn't you say? HMMMMMMM?????
BTW, everyone who "claims" to be christian, may just be fooling themselves.
seems the christian community does have alot of sickos, Linda. Look at Michelle Bachmann for one, she's forever talking dirty, did you hear her latest about "sex clinics" and backdoor abortions for school kids?? wow shes a great example of christian values, and shes "smart" to boot!!
Sue ~ You are either totally incapable of reading accurately, or you are so dishonest as to lie shamelessly about everyone who disagrees with your political viewpoint. Which is it?
Michelle Bachmann in NO way endorsed "sex clinics" or back door abortions for school children. It was JUST THE OPPOSITE, honey! Why don't you at least try to be honest in your posts, huh?
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/61099-bachmann-warns-of-abortions-at-school
Linda are you kidding me??? I didn't use the word endorse! She is on the video you are pointing to, claiming these clinics will lead to backdoor abortions on young school girls, thats fuckin insanity!! Now its your turn to read Linda!!!
**** Look at Michelle Bachmann for one, she's forever talking dirty, did you hear her latest about "sex clinics" and backdoor abortions for school kids?? wow shes a great example of christian values, and shes "smart" to boot!!****
This is what you wrote...read it and then defend what you said. How is what she was saying "dirty"? She spoke out of concern (about which MANY people agree) that schools are not the best place for children to be taught about any aspect of their sexuality. That is a job for parents at home. I surely don't want someone whom I don't know telling my kids about their sex lives, do you? There are all types of perversion out there and who is going to police every "class" in our public schools? It is a topic best left to parents...period.
"minor acute problems" I would call that a headache or a toothache, NOT ABORTION!! Once again Bachmann is INSANE!!
Bachmann is about dirty politics. She's a McCarthy advocate plain and simple. Her flub on Chris Matthews almost cost her seat to a virtual nobody. This latest stunt is OBVIOUS. If you can't listen to her whole shpiel and say that it is far off into right field, there is something fundamentally wrong with you.
School is for learning. If they don't get taught at home(clearly, a lot of parents have this handicap) they'll learn it from most likely the most unattractive of options. Sex Ed. belongs in school. Conversation, counseling, all that.
But that wasn't what she was getting at. She does not express concern, she is plagued with paranoia and whatever else the voices in her head tell her.
thanks C, perfectly said!
Post a Comment