The Carper so-called triggered "alternative" to the public option is a joke that I'd laugh at if it wasn't so painful to do so. It's a non-public triggered co-op non-option that progressives should reject in its entirety and is meant to fool a majority of Americans that desperately want a government alternative to private insurers. It's not even public at all, not available on day one, not regulated by the government, and has a trigger on it. Carper likes to call the "trigger" a "hammer" as if that removes the stain from it. It's still there in the form of a trigger no matter what he says.
Rep. Grijalva opposes this fake alternative to the public option:
The new version of the government-run plan, being crafted by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), fell flat with Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who’s led members of Congress who’d previously spoken out against similar concessions to win over centrist Democrats and some Republicans.
"I think that compromise is totally unacceptable," Grijalva told The Hill. "It basically emasculates the public option."
Rep. Grijalva's right on this so-called alternative in emasculating the public option which makes it into a pitiful joke for 60% of Americans that strongly support the public option as an alternative to private insurers:
Most Americans would like to see a "public option" in health insurance reform but doubt anything Congress does will lower costs or improve care in the short term, according to a poll released on Thursday.
Here are some of the results of the telephone survey of 2,999 households called from November 9-17 as part of the Thomson Reuters PULSE Healthcare Survey:
- Believe in public option: 59.9 percent yes, 40.1 percent no.
- 86 percent of Democrats support the public option versus 57 percent of Independents and 33 percent of Republicans.
- Quality of healthcare will be better 12 months from now: 35 percent strongly disagree. 11.6 percent strongly agree. 29.9 percent put themselves in the middle.
- Believe the amount of money spent on healthcare will be less 12 months from now: 52 percent strongly disagree, 13 percent strongly agree.
- 23 percent believe it will be easier for people to receive the care they need a year from now.
And to repeat what mcjoan had said earlier on this farce of an alternative to the public option:
With the government completely removed from management, this can't be called public. And to be acceptable to anyone, including Lieberman (who has so racheted up his rhetoric against this as to sound absolutely unhinged: "The public option is an unnatural and dangerous appendage to health care reform") the "standards of availability and affordability" would have to be set so as to never be met. That's the dirty little secret of Snowe's "bipartisan" contribution to the healthcare reform--her openness to compromise on a public option only goes so far as to ensure it will never happen. Bottom line: any trigger that will satisfy the likes of Lieberman and Snowe will never be pulled.
Reid's and Carper's Plan B isn't a compromise. It's a capitulation. And it's no solution to providing the necessary competition to the industry that our Dem leaders, from Obama on down, have been touting for all these months. It's a fig leaf that is unlikely even to appease the members it's supposedly geared toward. Add on top of that Ben Nelson and his filibuster threat over abortion and reconciliation is looking more and more necessary all the time.
Right on, mcjoan!
We're also continuing our One Voice For Choice campaign against Senator Nelson and Representative Stupak. We've already got phonebanks up and running to call pro-choice voters in the districts of Democratic Representatives who voted for the atrocious Stupak amendment. Please join one of our phonebanks that is running, follow One Voice For Choice on Facebook, and on Twitter as well @onevoice4choice.
I'm also setting up a phonebank for the One Voice For Choice campaign here in Austin, Texas. Please e-mail me by clicking on my profile to sign up if you want to! I make kickass snacks and can provide some nice non-alcoholic beverages.