Feingold "not interested" in health bill without public plan

Source: Politico

<snip>

His full statement:

"A public option is a fundamental part of ensuring health care reform brings about real change. Opposing the public plan is an endorsement of the status quo in this country that has left tens of millions of Americans uninsured or underinsured and put massive burdens on employers. I have heard too many horror stories from my constituents about how the so-called competitive marketplace has denied them coverage from the outset, offered a benefit plan that covers everything but what they need or failed them some other way. A strong public option would ensure competition in the industry to provide the best, most affordable insurance for Americans and bring down the skyrocketing health care costs that are the biggest contributor to our long-term budget deficits. I am not interested in passing health care reform in name only. Without a public option, I don’t see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good health care a privilege for those who can afford it.”


Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0809/Feingold_not_interested_in_health_bill_without_public_plan.html

he can get as do we all who want it for The Peeps!

:applause:

Keep them coming! I've emailed this to my Senators, maybe they just needed someone to test the waters!

we need more like him making a lot of noise, and we need to be making noise.

All we ever hear about is the effing GOP and blue dogs.

The senators who actually represent the people need to speak out loudly, clearly and frequently.

The insurance co. and the elite are fighting to maintain and will only give us reform in name only? Thank you Sen. Feingold for speaking out against this reform in name only nonsense.

maybe now some others will have the courage to do the same.

This is the most heartening thing I've read in 2 days. It has occurred to me that the trial balloon Sebelius floated yesterday may have been designed to bring the left out of the shadows. The teabagging, tantrum throwers are getting all the attention in the media leaving some very real concerns un-addressed. Perhaps we need some hell raising protests of our own?

No public option, NO DAMN "REFORM!"

Oh yeah, I forgot, might piss off the GOP.

We need more like him.

Everyone is falling hard for it.

Remember, he (Feingold) was the only one who voted against the Patriot Act - even Paul let us down on that one.

Feingold has a spine and convictions. I think I'm in love :loveya:

So what if he is for some measly "public option" that will have a negligible effect on the reform in a reality based world. This whole hub-bub just allowed the Democrats who favor it to come out, beating their chest like Tarzan, and look like heroes for supporting some measure that means diddly. He will have a spine when he starts taking a firm position on a bill that is actually progressive.

I would expect (and I should look up his past positions on reform, but I'm feeling lazy) that he'd want something that would at least start paving the way for single payer.

Its right in front of everyone's eyes, but you are all pretending you don't see it.

Come on...this option talk is becoming fantasy gibberish. The best bill scoring only suggested 11 million covered in a decade. Lets touch down on planet earth here and realize it isn't going to get magically better than that in the legislative process. In fact, it will probably be a compromise starting from the best position put forth, which wasn't so hot.

There is already a "pathway" to single-payer. Its model for expansion should serve as a historical reminder that the magic "public option" won't grow like Jack's Beanstalk anytime soon.

I'd be happy if they just started by extending it in steps - maybe by need or by population group . I'm not impressed by the public option (especially as it is laid out in HR3200) and think we're better off with no bill than that bill which is designed only to shore up the insurance companies. I say let them alone, and let the "system" as is collapse as it's bound to do. Then there will be no other option but to extend Medicare.

get your Medicare for all and if you don't we can all blame you for being a wimp.

that never see the light of day?

A true "public option"--one which essentially extends Medicare to anyone who wants it--would obviously pave the way to something pretty close to single payer. Employers would drop their expensive insurance plans in short order, and their employees would opt for public coverage. You'd still be able to buy "Cadillac" plans if you wanted them, but over time most Americans would be covered by Medicare+, or whatever they end up calling it. The current "system" doesn't just suck for the insured (and the uninsured), it's essentially a huge tax on employers, who are getting eaten alive by rapidly escalating insurance costs. Why wouldn't they urge their employees to take the public option, if such a thing existed?

No one is discussing it. Its not going to happen. To use language like "strong" and "robust" and assume it means they support extending Medicare is taking much liberty with language. In the end, a shitty public option will pass (firewalled, self-sustaining, premium funded) and the politicians will beat on their heroic chests like Tarzan, while the voters ejaculate on their TVs with pleasure.

those of us who are familiar with him through the years know he represents his constituents no matter what Washington Says.

:sarcasm:

A Co-OP will instituionalize insurance corporations over the healthcare of Americans forever.

This will be going from frying pan into the fire.

A Co-Op is the last thing we want.

Permanent instituionalization of for-profit healthcare! Are we fucking crazy?

...everyone keeps holding Group Health of Washington up as the "success story" among health care co-ops. We're insured through Group Health, and I can tell you that the premiums, charges, etc., are not one cent lower than the comparable plans offered by Blue Cross, Blue Shield, or any other private insurer. If that's the plan, we might as well be honest, ditch the co-ops entirely, and admit that "health care reform" will consist of a law requiring Americans to purchase private insurance at whatever the market will bear, or pay a hefty fine for the "privilege" of being uninsured.

:grr:

Meanwhile I'd rather they pass a law with community rating and co-ops rather than nothing.

just like the public plan laid out in HR3200 won't help anyone until 2013 at the earliest and only 10 million will be on it by 2019 (per the CBO)

And depending on how the regulations are written it may help the already insured avoid medical bankruptcies.

Don't get me wrong, I fully support Feingold and the House Progressive Caucus. If they don't threaten to withhold their votes then they have no leverage and that's what they need to do if we're going to have a chance at a public option. That being said if it really comes down to the end of the day and it's a choice between nothing and a bill with no public option and no bill at all I would rather have the bill with no public option.

expenses (depending on income, the more you make the larger your out of pocket until you hit the income cap and get no subsidy).

A single person making $43,000 (or more) could have $5,000 in out of pocket expenses (plus premium and other items not covered, but not enumerated in the bill). If they make the mistake of getting sick near the end of the benefit year and their illness carries over into the next year, they could be looking at coming up with $10,000 in a very short time (a family of 4 would have an annual out of pocket of $10k, so they could be looking at $20,000 if someone is seriously ill over two years).

This kind of coverage is not reform - it's the kind many employers have now and it's the kind that discourages people from seeking medical help because they are worried about the copays and it's the kind that drive people to bankruptcy. This will not improve access to health care it; it will merely make all of us underinsured (except Congress, whose members will still have really good insurance).

BTW if you check HR3200 for these numbers they are now called "cost-sharing" because that sounds ever so much nicer that "out of pocket". The income limits are currently based on 4x the poverty level, but Pelosi indicated a few weeks ago that those caps could be lowered. Personally, I think an addition $5k out of pocket for someone making $43,000 (gross income) is a pretty hefty amount to expect them to come up with.

And, I don't know if the regulations requiring insuring those with pre-existing conditions start immediately or if they don't kick in until 2013 as well.

We are being had.

:yourock:

Who questioned the SCOTUS Imperial Executive appointments?
Who questioned the Impeachment Off The Table BS?
Who stands and speaks for the Rule of Law and the American People?

Love you, Russ.

Every once in a while you do something that makes me proud that you are my Senator.

:kick:

:kick: :)

.... We need you to keep telling it like it is.

Feingold / Kucinich: THE AXES AGAINST EVIL!

Thank God that not all of the Democrats are weak and spineless. I'd rather there be no reform then "reform" which isn't real; which didn't include a public option because it would be doomed to failure and then the Republicans would lie and say "see it didn't work so let's stop trying". Either we get real reform WITH A PUBLIC OPTION or we pass nothing. Period. End of story.

You were elected to give people health care and if you don't do that then we'll get rid of you.

Usually without my even asking. (Senator Feingold, that is.)