The AP reports on the current "compromise" bill being announced, and this little nugget says all we need to know about the strongest PO we are likely to end up with. It is exactly what Dems needed to avoid, a Public Option that is hobbled and ineffective, "proving" it was a bad idea to begin with. Below the fold...
AP -
In one bit of sobering news, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that only about 6 million people would sign up and that premiums for the government plan could be higher than for private coverage. The CBO says sicker people with higher costs probably would be attracted to the government plan. By comparison, 162 million people would remain covered through employer plans.
So there you have it, an "inefficient" "government bureaucracy" offering overpriced insurance to the sick underclass. Sounds like a plan for success to me. And of course, there will be mandates.
Liberals, forced to choose between bad or nothing, are making the predictable leap while holding their noses:
After claiming for months they couldn't vote for a bill without the strongest possible government-run insurance option, liberals are putting aside their disappointment over the weaker version in the legislation for a historic chance to remake America's medical system.
And unlike some AP stories with unnamed sources, this one quotes the House Progressive Leader capitulating himself:
"I hate to say the speaker was right, but in retrospect I guess the progressives are going to be the good soldiers on this one, one more time," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., a co-chair of the Progressive Caucus.
I am glad that millions will get insurance, that some of the problems with recission and pre-existing conditions will be fixed. I'm glad for many of these things. And maybe the system can be improved upon once it's in place.
But as it currently stands, it appears the Public Option will not in any way resemble the kind of program to contain costs, the most important element of health care reform.