Hey Moderates, Public Health Plan Option Will Cut Costs (And Other Fun Facts)

Hey Moderates, Public Health Plan Option Will Cut Costs (And Other Fun Facts)
By Bill Scher

June 21, 2009 - 4:36pm ET


The Senate and the Beltway media got the vapors last week when the Congressional Budget Office estimated the government cost of two draft Senate health care proposals to be above $1 trillion.

With the media presenting the preliminary CBO price tag devoid of any context, Senate Finance Committee chair Max Baucus panicked, delayed introduction of a bill and produced a new draft with no public health plan option. The Senate minority of Republicans and right-leaning Senate Democrats who never wanted a public plan option are now using the CBO estimate as an excuse to drop the idea -- even though the idea was not part of the CBO's cost analysis.

In other words, the conservative Senate minority, with the help of the media, is distorting the public debate.

We need to reframe the debate immediately, and counter misleading information, if we are to press Congress to enact effective health care reform with the choice of a public plan that help covers everyone and reduces costs. Here's how we can:

1. It is not public plan option vs. saving money. The public plan option is the best way to save money. If these alleged deficit hawks actually care about wasteful spending, then they would want a public plan option, and its $1 trillion in health cost savings over 10 years.

Who says? The Lewin Group -- which, by the way, is the same organization conservatives have repeatedly cited when arguing President Obama's plan would spark a migration from private insurance into the public plan option.

They just don't mention such a migration would save us tons of money.

2. It is not a trillion-dollar plan. It is a investment of about $50 billion per year to expand coverage and reduce overall costs. Senators and reporters keep throwing around eye-popping numbers like $1.6 trillion, but such "price tags" are grossly misleading for several reasons. First, it's the amount of money it would take to cover all Americans for 10 years, not one year.

Meanwhile, our federal government already spends $3 trillion a year. As a nation, we all currently spend $2.2 trillion on health care per year, and with costs skyrocketing, we will spend $30 trillion over the next 10 years on health care if we fail to reform the system.

more...

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009062521/hey-moderates-public-health-plan-option-will-cut-costs-and-other-fun-facts

disclaimers or other details drives me bananas.

To me, it's the plan that makes the most sense.

The numbers are being thrown out there to support one side or the other. We will know the costs when the system is in place. If it saves money good. If it doesn't we'll have to deal with it some way.

We will need a new payroll deduction to pay for a public plan. An increase in the Medicare deduction I would expect. If you have private insurance you would also be paying for people in the public plan. Just like I pay for schools but I have no kids.

If you are not working you will get subsidized health care. What ever the cost is we will have to raise taxes to pay for it. It is not simply a trade off of what we are paying for health care now and what we will pay for a public plan. That's because there will be different people paying. Everyone will be paying something even if they don't have health insurance now. Those people are not paying anything now but will pay something for the public plan. When a public plan replaces employer plans the employers will not just turn the money over to the government that they were paying for health insurance for their employees. They will use that money for other expenses or for more profits.

The people who now pay into health insurance and go on a private plan may have their payments for the private plan increase or decrease.

But throwing around these numbers like we are all some homogeneous group all paying for something now and something else later at a greater or lower cost is just a political shouting match with very little real facts on either side.

If we get a health care bill passed this year it will be turning lose some genie that we don't understand because we have not spent enough time talking about the real issues. That is because it is a political football. Only if all of us agreed on what to do would we begin to talk about the real issues involved.

Let's hope the genie is not malevolent because we won't be able to put him back in the bottle.

Public option will give only 9% of the savings of single payer. Which, on the other hand, does beat the shit out of 0%.