Obama To AMA: ‘The Public Option Is Not Your Enemy, It Is Your Friend’

I have been posting a series of public statements by President Obama to try to expose the myth that President Obama does not support a public option. Here is President Obama discussing the public option to the AMA:

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/06/15/obama-support-public-option/

###

Last week, the American Medical Association issued a statement opposing “the introduction of a new public plan.” But today, in a speech to the organization, President Obama reiterated his support for a new public insurance plan:

If you don’t like your health coverage or don’t have any insurance, you will have a chance to take part in what we’re calling a Health Insurance Exchange…And one of these options needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market so that force waste out of the system and keep the insurance companies honest.

###

Thank you for spreading the truth.

:patriot:

I want him to come out bluntly in prime time.

Great, he supports a Public Option. Then he needs to come out forcefully in favor of the Public Option during the address on the 9th. No wiggle room, no stepping around it, no trigger that will never click, no "we'll get it next". Put a Public Option in the bill, or push Medicare-for-all through reconciliation as just a budget increase for Medicare, then lower of the allowed opt-in age via Executive Order.

Dude needs to re-learn how to negotiate.

thank you to no end.

Another pro active on a Democratic Internet Board!

They all indicate that at some point in the recent past, Obama supported the public option. No one is disputing that. In fact, no one is disputing that Obama supports it now. The relevant question is whether there are enough votes for it. There is nothing inconsistent with supporting a public option and recognizing the possible reality that it will never pass the Senate.

That President Obama has not been exercising "leadership" in getting out there and advocating for it. Often, these threads and OPS have absolutely no evidence to back up these assertions, except for a reference to yet another opinion piece. I am just pointing out that President Obama's speeches seem like they have a noun, verb, and "public option," yet people continue to argue that President Obama is not doing enough and is not fighting hard enough for healthcare reform, which just strikes me as dishonest.

If you disagree with the public option. Great. But, its the repeated assertion of falsehoods that I am trying to counter act with a systematic listing of the times that President Obama has expressed support for a public option and healthcare reform. Yet, folks refuse to let facts get in the way of their beliefs. Maybe its just possible that the President is our best ally in the fight for health care reform, and perhaps we should be trying to give Republicans and conservademsand in Congress, and the corporate media, some of the heat that they deserve.

The concern is that he isn't for one today. The concern is being prompted by reports that Obama is willing to compromise with Olympia Snowe with the "trigger" option. Such reports indicate (to many here) that Obama might be changing his mind , making his previous statements irrelevant.

Now, I don't agree that Obama has changed his mind -- I think he wants a public option now and will continue to want one even if healthcare reform passes without it. And I will support Obama even if he needs to compromise, since we mathematically need Snowe's vote (and he recognizes that).

I mean we virtually have a real time feed of President Obama explaining and defending the public option on virtually every other speech, and almost every speech on health care, yet we have this insistence from folks in the beltway and in the know that the President is not fighting or supporting a public option. Really? Then, shouldn't he stop spending so much time defending it often without being prompted? I want some real facts. Not folks whose secret source who is often just repeating something they heard from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or Fox News.

Now, I actually don't believe that single payer or the public option is the be all and end all. As Al Franken noted, some countries have universal healthcare, but with heavy regulation. The goal should be cheaper, universal healthcare, so I would hate a public option, but crappier care. Why not outlaw post-claim rescission?

That being said, President Obama supports a public option whether you are for it or against it. This does not mean that we will get it. This is a democracy. We have a Congress, and I personally think that some Democrats are actually more conservative them folks like Olympia Snowe.

I DO believe that President Obama is fighting for the best health care program he can get through Congress. If it was just a political thing, then he would have not done anything and blamed the recession. Easy out. Look at Bill Clinton. The Health care reform fight really hurt him early on. If its just for politics, health care reform was never going to be easy.

I guess I thought it was obvious that Obama wanted a public option, and what people were complaining about was that he might join a compromise without one (which has changed recently). But you bring up a good point that many here seem to equate this to not actually supporting the option. So on second thought, it is good that you are posting these articles to remind everyone that Obama is on our side. :)

.... invalidate with the President said live on National Television (over and over and over?) I'm afraid I dont understand that logical leap. ...... Until HE says otherwise, we can presume that he stands behind what HE said ...... a week ago, a month ago, whenever.

And there's also a "hide thread" buttin thingy ..... it's superhandy.

Then I really have to wonder about the DU posts accusing him of selling out, etc.

Unlike the "interpretations" of some how are parsing his speeches trying to say he is "implying" that he's ready to drop the PO.

"NEEDS to be a public option" seems pretty unequivocal to me.

profit national insurance would be the enemy.

For years a majority of Americans have supported a national insurance system...

http://www.wpasinglepayer.org/PollResults.html

When and if the President stops supporting a public option, Keith can bitch all he wants. But he needs to quit spreading unsubstantiated rumors just so he has something to bitch about on TV.