The Slow But Loud Death of the Public Option

First lets establish what we mean by Public Option.It would be a new entitlement that would provide coverage for any Americans. The next question would be how much would it pay the hospital industry, would they use the current Medicare Schedule payment or something a little higher,say 10% above those rates. Another question would be what premiums would a person pay if they joined. In theory Obama said the program must be self financing,considering the state of other entitlement we can add this to Obama's snake oil barrel. These details have been discussed, but never fully fleshed out as opposition to the program forced the Democrats to focus on merely saving the legislation rather then writing it. It goes without saying that the public option was going to be the vehicle by which 99% of private insurers would be crowded out of the market and replaced by the government,liberals such as Feingold or Schakowsky have admitted as such and usually coach it in terms of "transition". Anyway its been the dream of the left for some time now and it appears to be dead.

That proposal took on a life of its own, but it now appears to be dying, a victim of an ineffectual White House strategy, the president’s failure to argue passionately for the “public option” and all-out opposition by the insurance industry and much of the health care industry.

In the campaign, Mr. Obama said the public plan would compete with private insurers on the price and quality of care, thus benefiting consumers. What Mr. Obama did not foresee is that, to some people on the right and the left, it would become the most important issue in the debate over health care, touching off a battle over the role of government in one of the nation’s biggest, fastest-growing industries.

Once in office Mr. Obama and his advisers have sent conflicting signals about how critical a government-run health plan would be. He prefers a public plan but is open to other ideas.

Dancing around the issue for eight months, Mr. Obama has seemed, at various times, pragmatic, flexible or indecisive.

Indeed, and its Obama's failure to get involved in the debate about what he would sign that has divided the Democrats as the various factions within that party propose bills to their liking. Yes the President somewhat clarified his position the other day, but he has still failed to release any details about he wants or what he would sign. I had read a comment on another blog that the President would sign a dinner napkin if it had the name "Health Reform" on it and claim it as a huge success. Anyway the Option was dead as soon as Sebilius floated her trial balloon some time ago,you don't telegraph what you are going to sacrifice and then pretend like you will never give it up. This leaves us with the co-ops. Obama in all his truthiness has lately pushed competitiveness as the goal to reducing costs, this allows him the flexibility to choose any policy that fits the argument at any given time. In a perfect world he would push the selling of Insurance over state lines, of course in the real world that would not empower or enrich Democrats so we could leave that silliness to the side.