Obama express support for public healthcare option

[SpartanDem]

Lost in the debate over yesterday's remarks on single payer was this:

So this is why any reform of the health care system I think has to address this issue, and to say we are going to allow anybody to get health insurance. And if you've got a preexisting condition you're not going to be excluded but you're going to be able to obtain health insurance. And if you can't obtain it through a private plan then there is going to a public plan that is available in some way to give you insurance, or insurers are obligated to provide you with insurance in some way.

[DJ13]

1. I really dont like his reliance on insurers

Keeping the profit motive in providing health care is a mistake that will end up costing us dearly in the coming years.

[MarjorieG]

2. With Medicare so dire and profit motive ingrain, this is best for now.

Competition will bring down costs. Agree that profit motive has ruined health care, hospitals in particular.

[msongs]

3. insurance = take your $$ while healthy & avoid spending on you when you're sick nt

[Warpy]

5. Face it, those boys are entrenched and own at least half of Congress

so the only way we're going to start on the road to single payer is to be able to do an end run against the insurance company greedheads and into a state insurance plan.

This is what Edwards proposed and it's got a chance of passing. Insurance giants will see it as a way to get rid of the sick and the rest of us will see it as a way to cut off the insurance executives.

[sandnsea]

4. It's a great plan, It's like Dean's plan

But the chronic malcontents will never see it because if they can't rail against the corporate Democrats they'd have nothing to do.

[SpartanDem]

6. Exactly

one minor point of contention though Dean's initiative is about getting people behind Obama's plan as it says on the project website 'If Barack Obama's healthcare plan gets changed to exclude a public option like Medicare, then it is not healthcare reform". But your larger point stands that stuff like this is ignored by people who's only goal in life it seems is trying to paint Obama as a fraud.

[sandnsea]

9. "if"

Why is it necessary to throw an "if" out there on something that hasn't happened or even been suggested.

If we want a public option, then we need to focus on that campaign and only that campaign and keep the rest of this political posturing out of it.

[dflprincess]

7. Some states have plans like this

and the premium for the state plan will be so high a person still cant' afford it.

You'll notice in Obama's statement of "support" he says that a public plan will be avaiable "if you've got a preexisting condition". He also says "if you can't obtain it through a private plan then there is going to a public plan that is available in some way to give you insurance."

He doesn't mention whether or not he supports everyone having the option of going with the public plan, just an option for those who can't get insurance from the private companies for some reason. He also doesn't say anything about improving access to health care - just access to health insurance, not the same thing at all.

[dflprincess]

8. Self delete duplicate

[sandnsea]

10. That's only part of the plan

That relates to pre-existing conditions. It isn't the totality of his plan. His plan also calls for all insurance companies to be required to accept people with pre-existing positions, but while people are busy twisting Obama's plan, we'll lose the real meat of it because business never plays these kinds of internal games.

[dflprincess]

11. And while "requiring" the crooks to accept people with preexisting conditions

is he also going to require them to make the premiums and out of pocket expenses something the average person will be able to afford? Or will they be allowed to offer a person coverage, so that they're within the letter of the law, but make the costs so high no, they still won't have to worry about actually paying any claims?

If there's going to be a public option, it needs to be available to anyone who wants it, not just those who may cost the for profits money.

Expecting the people who have caused the problem to be part of the solution makes no sense at all.

[sandnsea]

12. Yes, he is

The regional health care board would set a basic plan that every company would have to carry, that would have to cover everything the board decided. The premium would be subsidized so it would be affordable. The public plan would have to offer at least the basic of what the private plan, and probably more if it Medicaid and SCHIP were folded into it.

Oregon has a Quality Education Model that defines the components and cost of education each year. The state never provides adequate funding. That's why people oppose single payer. But if you want to support it, the least you could do is fight the insurance companies and the right and leave Obama's plan the hell alone.

[dflprincess]

13. Define affordable

That word is constantly tossed around when health insurance is being talked about - but no one tells us what affordable means. I imagine the regional health insurance board would have a very different definition than those who have to pay the "affordable" premiums.

These are the current (gross) income limits for Medicaid (note how in touch they are with the real world)

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/DSS/Services+for+Seniors+and+the+Disabled/Common+Questions/90faq+medicaid.htm

"The income limit for full Medicaid is $798 for a single person and $1070 for a couple. If income exceeds these limits, the individual or couple must meet a medical deductible before he is eligible for full Medicaid. The deductible is the amount of income over the income limit. A deductible can be for 1, 2 or 3 months before the month of application or for a period of 6 months beginning with the month of application."

[sandnsea]

15. $115 a month for me and my husband

That's up from $50 last year when we were at a slightly lower income level. I am not crazy about the insurance. It would be way cheaper if we didn't have pre-existing conditions, easily half the price and we'd have more options including dental and optical. But it's certainly better than the nothing I would have in just about every other state.

Single Payer has its problems too. There isn't one perfect solution. We will end up with the insurance industries solution if we keep putting all our attention on attacking Obama in the name of single payer that we're never going to get.

[dflprincess]

16. That's your definition

for someone else, it may be too much and others could afford more. I want to hear how Obama and his pals in the insurance companies define "affordable"

We will end up with the insurance companys' solution if we support Obama's plan and good luck convincing them that they'll be able to make money off you at $115/month - especially if there isn't an employer subsidizing it. And, I would bet when you add in copays, deductibles, dental and optical you're currently paying quite a bit more than $115/ month.

[sandnsea]

18. It's not going to be free

for anybody who it isn't free for today. I don't understand why single payer advocates don't get that. If it's not free for you now, it's not going to be free for you later, and it will take at least 6% of your income. I am really lucky because my local faith-based hospital actually has implemented a good sliding scale system so I don't have to pay anything after my insurance pays. I do pay co-pays for prescriptions, lab work, and doctors outside this system; and dental and optical because of the pre-existing clause. Then again, Canadians pay for their own prescriptions, dental and optical as well.

I agree with needing to know how much "affordable" means to anybody, which is why I oppose mandates. I trust that Obama knows the meaning of the word "affordable" a whole lot more than Hillary or Krugman do.

[dflprincess]

19. I never said I thought it would be free but the term "affordable"

gets tossed around by politicians without explanation of what they think it means. However, I do expect with single payer to pay most the cost through taxes (and like Bernie Sanders says, if we can bail out billionaires, we can afford health care).

If Obama only intends to allow only people with preexisting conditions to sign up for a public program he's setting the program up for failure and he's smart enough to know that's what he's doing. Single payer will only be successful if the risk is spread over the whole population. Covering only those with chronic problems is going to drive the cost up much and give those who think the insurance companies are our friends the chance to claim that a public is just too expensive and doesn't work. Obama is selling us out with his plan.

[sandnsea]

20. It isn't ideal, but it is helpful

I agree, I would like to see everybody able to sign up for a public plan and would definitely fight for that. That's my point. If everybody who is going to fight for the people on health care only go for single payer, we're going to miss our opportunity to get that public plan for everybody even if it's alongside regular insurance. If he's planning a Public Insurance Pool only for those with pre-existing conditions, then that's definitely not adequate. It is helpful to reduce insurance premiums by getting catastrophic cases out of the group, and it is exactly what I am able to buy into so it's better than nothing, but I believe we can do better than that. That's what I keep saying around here. Please don't let the opportunity for something really good slip away, like the opportunity to buy into a Medicare for all type plan, by focusing solely on single payer.

[Juche]

14. It sounds like he is making it a last resort

"And if you can't obtain it through a private plan then there is going to a public plan"

I will take a public plan over a private plan any day of the week. That statement by Obama worries me. Is the healthcare reform going to not allow anyone who wants to opt into a public plan to be able to do so?

[dflprincess]

17. Exactly

and if the public plan isn't open to everyone, the insurance companies won't have any real competition from it. The public plan will wind up with the people who need the most care and then the private crooks can point to it and say "See how much it costs.", never mentioning that their risk is spread over a population that includes health people.

[Juche]

22. The private plan will be 20% cheaper

At least. That is what the commonwealth fund (that wrote Obama's plan found). A 20% savings will mean a family of four will only have to spend $9600 a year on premiums instead of $12000. People need that kind of money.

Competition among private insurers with a lower cost public plan is integral to the $3 trillion in healthcare savings the Commonwealth fund predicts between 2010 and 2020. If private insurers only compete against each other, where are the savings going to come from?

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2009/Feb/The-Path-to-a-High-Performance-US-Health-System.aspx

[MrsBrady]

21. if they provide subsidies to make it affordable,

the for profit companies will just raise their prices so it's not affordable again so as to keep all the subsidy money.

Also, what is to stop companies from saying...oooops, we won't provide coverage now, so go to the public plan.

So everyone will end up on public plan anyway....if that is the case...
let's just do it right, RIGHT now...and go to single payer.

I love Obama, but would someone please say that Hillary was right on this one? This can't be done half way.