Reply #54: I believe a public option that will be obliged to cover pre-existing conditions.

[Lasher]

It's pretty clear to me that the insurance companies are running the show. They will allow a public option that is designed to fail so that they can later point to it as proof that single payer doesn't work. Of course this option will be nothing like single payer but that distinction will be lost to most of the public in a haze of obfuscation.

These insurance companies want individual mandate, but what to do with those who are most likely to actually need health care? They sure don't want to cover them. Why not require the public option to take all comers, so that private insurance companies can turn away those they deem uninsurable? This would kill two birds with one stone: The level playing field between the public and private options would be only an illusion, and private companies could continue to weed out applicants as they are doing today. And with the higher public option premiums that would surely result, younger, healthier people would opt for private plans.