Constituents of Rep. Anthony Weiner: Ask him to stop misrepresenting health reform bills.

[clear eye]

A few days ago, Rep. Weiner went on the Rachel Maddow show claiming that the so-called "expansion of Medicare" proposed was a step toward universal coverage and single-payer, and that therefore progressives should support such a bill even w/o a public option, when the reality is quite different.

The provision as devised is, in fact, simply a plan to create a gov't program so unwieldy and expensive that it will discredit Medicare. The plan is for private insurers to be free of people in the 55 - 64 yo range who have been previously denied coverage b/c they have pre-existing conditions, creating an impossibly expensive pool, to not include the payment rate limits of real Medicare or their coverage guarantees, and to offer only privately administered plans similar to Medicare Advantage, but partially underwritten by the gov't. Since none of the cost will be supported by relatively healthy members, and payment rates will be as high as in the private insurance world, the premiums will necessarily be the highest in the nation. The costs to both the individual participants and the gov't subsidies will be unmanageable. When (not if) it fails, it will be held up as proof that gov't single-payer is a disaster.

By intentionally ignoring the vast difference between the current Medicare (which includes relatively health seniors, strictly limits payment rates, and includes a huge gov't option) and this pseudo-Medicare, Rep. Weiner is going around on nat'l TV laying the groundwork for making the idea of real "Medicare for All" unsellable--intentionally or not.

He is also reneging on his promise not to support health care legislation w/o a public option. This man claims to speak for "progressives", but has declined to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus. This deception needs to stop.