Public Option Co-opted!

I had promised to talk about the public option in a past post. I said that I didn't honestly understand what all of that entailed but, after reading and doing some research (something any good citizen can and should do before taking a position), I have discovered that the so-called "Public Option" is the idea of a government operated health care plan. This is the meat and potatoes of what the left wants and the bane of the Republican existance nowadays. They claim it's "socialistic" and they also talk about "death panels" too. But, let's be civil and move on...

President Obama has proposed sweeping health care reforms and has stated that the "Public Option" (government health insurance plan) was never the be all and the end all of his health care reform initiative. Now, it looks as though President Obama may bow to Republican pressure and offer political cover to fiscally conservative Democrats. The Obama administration signaled yesterday that it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance. The shift leaves open the chance for compromise with Republicans that probably will enrage Obama's liberal supporters but, it could deliver a much-needed victory on a top domestic priority.

Officials from both political parties are looking for concessions while Congress is getting back underway. Facing tough audiences at these town hall meetings and such, lawmakers and the White House are looking for a way to cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured while maintaining political standing. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that a government alternative to private health insurance is "not the essential element" of the administration's health care overhaul. The White House would be open to co-ops, she said... a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory.

Under a proposal by Senator Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) consumer-owned non-profit cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private industry, not unlike the way electric and agriculture co-ops operate, especially in rural states such as his own (and, I believe, in states like New York). The White House and members of Congress played down an immediate role for a government health insurance option and turned attention to regulating insurers, with the goal of lowering costs and ensuring coverage regardless of medical condition.

After a summer of taking the heat on health care, President Obama has gone back on offense on his top domestic issue, most notably with a prime-time speech to Congress last week. He told the nation that the "time for bickering is over" and a plan for the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry was "only a means to that end and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal."

With that statement, President Obama began the difficult task of trying to lubricate negotiations on Capitol Hill, to push opposing lawmakers away from positions — both left and right — that were threatening a stalemate. That's what happened when Bill Clinton, the last Democratic president, tried to push through an overhaul in the 1990s and we all know how that ended. The president "prefers the public option". However, he said what's most important is "choice and competition" and added that "it is not all of health care."

Senator Olympia Snowe, the Maine Republican who could be her party's only senator who votes with the Democrats on health care, believes choice and competition can be ensured without a government plan. "It's not on the table and it won't be", she said. Snowe said it is "universally opposed" by all GOP senators and "therefore, there's no way to pass a plan that includes the public option. So, I think he's recognizing that." Snowe said that a better bet for now "as the means for injecting competition" are non-profit insurance cooperatives that are designed to compete with private industry and give consumers more choices. Such co-ops are in place in parts of the country, their success has been spotty, and President Obama will have to be convinced that such a plan can succeed.

This is the alternative plan I have been wanting to hear about, even though it was actually conceived by a Democrat. The Republicans seem to be willing to compromise on that point and I can't see anybody but the far far left opposing it altogether. I am not opposed to the idea of the co-op plan in theory, if it can be made to work. What everybody, Democrat and Republican alike, should be going for is a plan that can work... a plan that gets results when put into motion. One thing that even the Republicans agree with the Democrats on is this... the healthcare system as it is now is not working and is causing a drain on all of our pocketbooks. Business as usual cannot continue and something has got to be done! Oh, but then... I'm just stating the obvious!