Obama may drop public insurer option

So the new healthcare program will be like medicare?

Obama may drop public insurer option
Appears open to nonprofit cooperative
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
New York Times / August 17, 2009
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Sending your articleYour article has been sent. Email| Print| Reprints| Yahoo! Buzz| ShareThisText size – + PHOENIX - The White House, facing increasing skepticism over President Obama’s call for a public insurance plan to compete with the private sector, signaled yesterday that it was willing to compromise and would consider a proposal for a nonprofit health cooperative being developed in the Senate.

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The “public option,’’ a new government insurance program akin to Medicare, has been a central component of Obama’s agenda for overhauling the health care system, but it has also emerged as a flashpoint for anger and opposition. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the public option was “not the essential element’’ of the overhaul, and raised the idea of the co-op during an interview on CNN.

And Obama himself sought to play down the significance of the public option at a town-hall-style meeting Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo., when a university student challenged him on how private insurers could compete with the government. After strongly defending the public plan, Obama suggested that he, too, viewed it as only a small piece of a broader initiative aimed at controlling costs, expanding coverage, protecting consumers, and making the delivery of health care more efficient.

“The public option, whether we have it or we don’t have it, is not the entirety of health care reform,’’ the president said. “This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it.’’

For Obama, giving up on the public plan would have both risks and rewards. The reward is that he could punch a hole in Republican arguments that he wants a “government takeover’’ of health care, and possibly win some Republican votes. The risk is that he could alienate liberal Democrats, whose support he will also need to pass a bill.
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/08/17/obama_may_drop_public_insurer_option/

Accepts a ,watered down to the point of being unrecognizable bill, so he can claim a weak victory.
Or veto's on principle and risks getting nothing done on "the centerpiece of his presidency".


sorry if it pisses some off but I'd bet on the first option

unorganized bs

if it comes down to it....
will he veto or walk away from a non public option bill?
or will he sign it with an "Incremental explanation"

when I know they're not remotely interested in working with dems,and history backs this claim up. I see that the response will be used as a excuse to say you see this why we couldn't get it done,it's the republicans. I'm no longer buying that bs.

Good bet.

term president.

When it's been denied?

Cause the MSM says so?

the media is. Has this effort been the best as far as you can see?

"All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform," Obama said at a town hall meeting in Grand Junction, Colo. "This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it."

we attach a big bullseye to the Public option, knowing that this will only
provide the Media and the Repugs the aim to take it down.



Why do you think it is so hard for Democrats to pass anything that they promote on their platform
and the Republicans can take us to war nilly willy?
Mostly because the media decides what the story will be....
that's why the town halls and the protestors are such a bit hit right now.
It ain't because they are out there in large numbers.....
it's because the media chooses to portray it that way.
If you haven't picked up on all of that, then you don't need to be involved in politics.

you do not have a corner on reality.

The D's were outplayed on the whole issue - including obama.

The "death counselors", "socialized medicine", "long lines", "huge deficit", "denied treatment", "bureaucratic health decisions", "government control" arguments should have been headed off by the administration. Not one was. They are now on the defensive trying to set the record straight over these lies - and not succeeding.

So compromise is their only option. This whole coop idea is nothing but a compromise so obama can claim victory. And the R's (and many D's) will go along with it because their health insurance money will continue to flow in. What's a few more billion to keep the left in-line.

Blame it on the media if you like. But it is the money flowing from these greedy companies that is winning the war. And their best dollar spent is going into the pockets of the D's.

now that's something you should think about.

Why has it taken so long?
Because all Dems have been crooked since that time,
or because this ain't no easy sell,
even if you think so.

I'm starting to think you should run for President....
but I just won't hold my breath for your health care program being passed.

I voted for obama because I was sold that he did.

I was obviously wrong.