Comments on: Can Dems get out of their own way and get a public health option? http://needlenose.com/wp/2009/09/07/can-dems-get-out-of-their-own-way-and-get-a-public-health-option/ We Needle. You Decide. Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:37:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: CMike http://needlenose.com/wp/2009/09/07/can-dems-get-out-of-their-own-way-and-get-a-public-health-option/comment-page-1/#comment-2630 CMike Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:23:39 +0000 http://needlenose.com/wp/?p=4733#comment-2630 Rick Freedman writes: <i>We can put hoist Republicans on their own petard of free market reform, which we know won’t work, and which they don’t really believe anyway. We can get a public option, albeit a bit later than we’d like, by allowing the triggers to kick in and force the reforms we need.</i> Just wow. Can anyone give me an example of how something worked out for the left in the past twenty-eight years the way Rick Freedman sees this working out? (I'm asking for an example other than those of careerists in the Democratic Party getting themselves promotions in 2006 and 2008.) http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/09/07/on-the-status-of-health-reform/ <i>On the status of health reform</i> Posted by Andrew Coates MD on Monday, Sep 7, 2009: <i>If Congress enacts reform, in 2013 individuals will be required to purchase health insurance. This is the centerpiece of the “reform.” The proposal has come straight from the insurance industry: <b>criminalize the uninsured and subsidize unaffordable private insurance premiums with public funds...</b></i> <i>An April 2008 New York Times business column about sagging profits at UnitedHealth carried a frank appraisal of the declining employer-sponsored private health insurance market. “It is never a good thing if many of your customers can no longer afford what you’re selling,” Reed Abelson wrote.</i> <i>“In recent years despite soaring medical costs, insurers have made big profits by keeping premiums well ahead of health care inflation. But analysts say that business strategy may be reaching its limits, with companies finding it harder to raise prices without losing substantial numbers of customers.”</i> <i>The article closed with a quote from a health business analyst: “The hail Mary may be that we turn to some sort of universal care.”</i> Rick Freedman writes:

We can put hoist Republicans on their own petard of free market reform, which we know won’t work, and which they don’t really believe anyway. We can get a public option, albeit a bit later than we’d like, by allowing the triggers to kick in and force the reforms we need.

Just wow. Can anyone give me an example of how something worked out for the left in the past twenty-eight years the way Rick Freedman sees this working out? (I’m asking for an example other than those of careerists in the Democratic Party getting themselves promotions in 2006 and 2008.)

http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/09/07/on-the-status-of-health-reform/

On the status of health reform
Posted by Andrew Coates MD on Monday, Sep 7, 2009:

If Congress enacts reform, in 2013 individuals will be required to purchase health insurance. This is the centerpiece of the “reform.” The proposal has come straight from the insurance industry: criminalize the uninsured and subsidize unaffordable private insurance premiums with public funds…

An April 2008 New York Times business column about sagging profits at UnitedHealth carried a frank appraisal of the declining employer-sponsored private health insurance market. “It is never a good thing if many of your customers can no longer afford what you’re selling,” Reed Abelson wrote.

“In recent years despite soaring medical costs, insurers have made big profits by keeping premiums well ahead of health care inflation. But analysts say that business strategy may be reaching its limits, with companies finding it harder to raise prices without losing substantial numbers of customers.”

The article closed with a quote from a health business analyst: “The hail Mary may be that we turn to some sort of universal care.”

]]> By: rick freedman http://needlenose.com/wp/2009/09/07/can-dems-get-out-of-their-own-way-and-get-a-public-health-option/comment-page-1/#comment-2627 rick freedman Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:43:57 +0000 http://needlenose.com/wp/?p=4733#comment-2627 Lawrence; Thanks for the kind remarks...I'm really just a guest here, and have been posting very intermittently due to my other business and writing responsibilities (I'm writing a column for TechRepublic.com and working on a book)...but with this kind of encouragement maybe I should start opining some more...it cretainly seems to be the season for it... Rick... Lawrence;

Thanks for the kind remarks…I’m really just a guest here, and have been posting very intermittently due to my other business and writing responsibilities (I’m writing a column for TechRepublic.com and working on a book)…but with this kind of encouragement maybe I should start opining some more…it cretainly seems to be the season for it…

Rick…

]]> By: greenboy http://needlenose.com/wp/2009/09/07/can-dems-get-out-of-their-own-way-and-get-a-public-health-option/comment-page-1/#comment-2626 greenboy Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:57:34 +0000 http://needlenose.com/wp/?p=4733#comment-2626 I like the picture you paint, Rick, but I'm afraid John & Phaedrus probably have the rights of it. I like the picture you paint, Rick, but I’m afraid John & Phaedrus probably have the rights of it.

]]> By: lawrence murray http://needlenose.com/wp/2009/09/07/can-dems-get-out-of-their-own-way-and-get-a-public-health-option/comment-page-1/#comment-2625 lawrence murray Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:06:24 +0000 http://needlenose.com/wp/?p=4733#comment-2625 mr freedman, yours is the most acute analysis i have seen (after much close following and reading) on the probable outcome of the health care reform bill...i came upon your site only today (from the gleen greenwald blog referrals on salon), but will follow you closely from now on...thanks for your very sharp analysis and sagacity...(i had been struggling with my own analysis and came close to what you suggest, but never quite got there)...is there any way, as an ordinary reader, that i can help promote your site? mr freedman, yours is the most acute analysis i have seen (after much close following and reading) on the probable outcome of the health care reform bill…i came upon your site only today (from the gleen greenwald blog referrals on salon), but will follow you closely from now on…thanks for your very sharp analysis and sagacity…(i had been struggling with my own analysis and came close to what you suggest, but never quite got there)…is there any way, as an ordinary reader, that i can help promote your site?

]]> By: Phaedrus http://needlenose.com/wp/2009/09/07/can-dems-get-out-of-their-own-way-and-get-a-public-health-option/comment-page-1/#comment-2623 Phaedrus Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:02:02 +0000 http://needlenose.com/wp/?p=4733#comment-2623 I'm with John, you're not being cynical enough by half. I see this as a battle between honest-to-goodness representatives (progressive congress critters) and industry funded reps (blue dogs). And that might actually be a farce, with many of the progressives willing to be progressive as long as what they want is out of reach - the Dems love that tactic, very progressive as long as their in the minority. Republicans use the same tactic for Abortion (if they really wanted to make it illegal, instead of use it as an endless election club, they would have last time they controlled congress). I’m with John, you’re not being cynical enough by half. I see this as a battle between honest-to-goodness representatives (progressive congress critters) and industry funded reps (blue dogs). And that might actually be a farce, with many of the progressives willing to be progressive as long as what they want is out of reach – the Dems love that tactic, very progressive as long as their in the minority. Republicans use the same tactic for Abortion (if they really wanted to make it illegal, instead of use it as an endless election club, they would have last time they controlled congress).

]]> By: Douglass Truth http://needlenose.com/wp/2009/09/07/can-dems-get-out-of-their-own-way-and-get-a-public-health-option/comment-page-1/#comment-2621 Douglass Truth Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:12:53 +0000 http://needlenose.com/wp/?p=4733#comment-2621 it is hard to have confidence that the bill will have real teeth, and real consequences for the insurers. very hard. but if it's the best we can get, sigh. if the dems had any messaging skills at all (or perhaps the real desire to use them in this instance) this wouldn't even be a contest. as josh marshall said this morning, if rescission was as well known as death-panels, it would be toxic to vote for the insurers. the whole thing is so very depressing. Goldman Sachs making our financial policy is bad enough. This seems so much worse. To not fix the health issues in this country is genuinely sinful. it is hard to have confidence that the bill will have real teeth, and real consequences for the insurers. very hard. but if it’s the best we can get, sigh.

if the dems had any messaging skills at all (or perhaps the real desire to use them in this instance) this wouldn’t even be a contest. as josh marshall said this morning, if rescission was as well known as death-panels, it would be toxic to vote for the insurers.

the whole thing is so very depressing. Goldman Sachs making our financial policy is bad enough. This seems so much worse. To not fix the health issues in this country is genuinely sinful.

]]> By: John Seal http://needlenose.com/wp/2009/09/07/can-dems-get-out-of-their-own-way-and-get-a-public-health-option/comment-page-1/#comment-2619 John Seal Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:07:07 +0000 http://needlenose.com/wp/?p=4733#comment-2619 Because the 'triggers' will be legislatively massaged in such a way that they will never get pulled. Because the ‘triggers’ will be legislatively massaged in such a way that they will never get pulled.

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