Gibbs: No "Postal Service" for Health Care

[will_in_chicago]

On Face the Nation, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stated that President Obama is still supporting a public option.

Gibbs: No "Postal Service" for Health Care
President Still Favors Public Option as a Means of Creating Competition and Choice, the White House Press Secretary Said

By Stephanie Condon

(CBS) White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on Face the Nation Sunday that President Obama is still in favor a government-sponsored health insurance plan -- but does not intend to replicate the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service.

The federal government would be able to successfully administer a health insurance option, Gibbs told CBS Anchor Harry Smith, even though the government-run Postal Service is facing serious financial problems.

"I don't think he was saying that what we were going to do is create the postal service for healthcare," Gibbs said. "The president believes this option of a government plan is the best way to provide choice and competition."

It looks like the battle for a public option is on, but I think that it is up to us to win out. Call your member of Congress, your Senators, and the media -- even if you think that they won't respond the way that you want. Heck, contact people on Capitol Hill who are on the fence in other districts and states.

[JaneQPublic]

1. Hell, a lot of businesses are faciing financial problems, not just the USPS.

Nowadays, you wouldn't want a health system to replicate a lot of commercial enterprises, either... GM, Chrysler, Bear Sterns, Lehman Bros. AIG, Circuit City, Bed, Bath, and Beyond... the list goes on and on.

[unpossibles]

2. agreed

also the USPS issues are not from inefficiency but from people using alternate ways to communicate, such as email and cell phone/texting, etc.

[will_in_chicago]

3. Exactly

Government can be more efficient than private industry -- see Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

With all the hooplah this weekend, I wonder if Kathleen Sebelius is joining Rahm Emmanuel and Joe Biden in having foot-in-mouth disease. (Does the White House need a new dentist or a new podiatrist?)

[JaneQPublic]

5. Another Foot-in-Mouther: Larry Summers

He was an earlier example of a growing number of White House officials who seem to forget that they appear on Sunday talk shows to speak for Obama, not to simply voice their personal opinions.

Oddly enough, White House reject Howard Dean has been doing a better job lately voicing the president's actual policy preferences than the people Obama actually hired.

[Cass]

4. I hate that they keep picking on the post office. They do a pretty damn good job when you consider

the scope of their services. I wonder what Fed-Ex or UPS would charge if they were to attempt to do what the USPS does on a daily basis.

Anyway, I am glad to see the Administration still supports a public option. They need to get their communications under control though. I have contacted my elected officials and the White House to make my views known but will do so again.

[Cha]

7. I think because it's a known fact that the Post Office

is in trouble and they want to acknowledge that and the Public Option will be a success.

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. Here's why the post office comparison doesn't work.

The post office is in trouble because the service they traditionally provide has been replaced by technology in many cases. E mails have replaced letters. Many people pay their bills electronically through their bank or other means, and more recently the bills themselves arrive electronically. All of this is great from a green perspective (less trees cut down for the paper) and also saves time and money for both the companies and the consumers, but it's obviously a loss to the post office. They probably sell more stamps to collectors now than to people who actually use them for mailing.

That kind of obsolescence isn't likely to happen to health care any time soon. People will still get sick and injured, and Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird won't be much help with that.

[Cha]

10. Good POint..was not the Post Office

in trouble before the internet got so busy with correspondence and bill paying?

[ipaint]

8. Picking on the post office is pissing me off

I had a small business during the 2000s and shipped over 5000 packages and 3 were lost or damaged. 3 packages, that's it and they paid on the ins on all of them.

When they diss the post office they come off like amateurs.

[Cha]

6. Rec'd and a thank

you, will in Chicago.

[will_in_chicago]

11. Thanks

We have to note that different things are being said by administration members, perhaps intentionally. We may have seen a trial baloon floated by Sebelius -- which looks like it has been shot down. Or Obama may be trying to stir up the base with a few leaks.