Make the trigger so oppressive that the insurance companies will be screaming for a public option

How does that sound. Put in a trigger that is so punitive so oppressive that the public option will look like a picnic.

I like it.:D

What would you and others suggest we do to make the trigger worse than the public option in the eyes of the insurance companies?

Definitely huge fines. Taxes.

huge fines and taxes are fine with me. How about we charge the insurance companies to help pay for setting up the public option if they don't control themselves. I still don't like the trigger, but there has to be a way to work it to our advantage.

As long as we're dealing with doable and realistic objectives I thought I'd throw out another one for consideration.

Of course, some may try to sell a trigger suggesting it would be even more oppressive to the insurance industry than a public option without a trigger! Sure it would. Wanna buy the Brooklyn Bridge .... I'll thrown in Hoover Dam for just 10 bucks more!

The snake oil salesmen will be coming out of their gutters to pitch a trigger now.

Could that be the answer to your question?

on the Insurance Co's may very well be better then a watered down Public Option whose positive effects get diluted in order that it can pass the Senate.

Things aren't always so simplistic and we don't always get exactly what we want passed through Congress.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/09/trigger-with-teeth.html

Well, if and when the House and/or Senate write such a trigger mechanism that can actually be pulled and does not waterdown a strong public option please post it.

I'll take it look at it, but, I doubt very much if such a bill will even be proposed.

Those who propose a trigger should spell out specific details of what they propose. Until that happens we have to remain alert, on guard and skeptical to say the least.

into what types of things they could get in there if a trigger is the way it goes because, right now, I'm thinking that is how HCR is going to end up getting done.

I think it gives an out to the more Conservative Dems and Maine Republicans while it could also provide the progressive caucus with a frame work to get included in the Bill some things they otherwise couldn't.

If this is the way it is going then I just want the Progressive Caucus to use it to their advantage as much as possible. Nancy implied as much today:

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put the insurance industry on notice that if congressional Democrats are forced to compromise on a government-run health insurance plan and accept a “trigger” proposed by Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, get ready for some major fire power.

-snip-
Pelosi warned insurance companies that they should accept the Senate health committee proposal that would create a public plan because “if they want no public option but a trigger, you can be sure that the trigger will bring on a very robust public option.”


http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/09/03/pistol-packin-pelosi-finger-on-healthcare-trigger/


I worry that the limitations placed on a PO to ram it through may cripple it and this other way could potentially be more effective if people use it right.

We'll see.

and trigger takes affect in 2 years MAX with threats of starting each month if goals are not met each month.

Ideally dont hace a trigger at all because it leaves too much room for loopholes and light punishment (if at all)

than any trigger option that would kick in. The key would be to guarantee that the trigger would indeed include very strict regulations and that it wouldn't get watered down.

this is going then I want them to really use it as effectively as possible.

edit to clarify - some of the stricter regs I think could be put in place right away, not that they would have to wait for the trigger to get pulled. They could take effect right away or get phased in no matter whether the trigger is pulled or not.

No PO. No trgger, let along a punitive one. No working co-op (they will be limited to buying from the insurance companies.

Watch the stock market. Whatever deal comes out, insurance company stock will go through the roof. They all know that whatever form this takes will be a huge windfall for corporate insurance.

Even the die hard, "Don't give up til it's over" and "Just wait, he's got tricks up his sleeve" posters have been launching their preemptive excuses. Now it's a matter of passing anything so that people will love us and help us get a decent bill sometime in the future. Yeah. Right.

We've been beat. Stupidity, hubris, and greed have killed health care reform. A health care bill. No doubt. But no reform.

:)

This did catch me in a particularly cynical frame of mind. Maybe everything will be just fine. I just have a hard time believing. You'll see me on posts telling how wrong I was if we get a true (I mean real) public option. I doubt that we will get that from the optimistic crowd if we don't get real reform.

Very Michael-Mooreish. :evilgrin:

The industry will pour millions of dollars to repeal the trigger, and there will be plenty of politicians from both parties who will take the money and vote for repeal.

They would need 2/3 majority to over ride if we still have a Democratic president. That's a pretty big supermajority.
Better to avoid a trigger though.

...since it doesn't start until 2013 anyway.

also known as Single Payer.

while the insurance companies continue to rob us.

If the crap they've been doing to us for years isn't enough to put them out of business, no one is ever going to pull this imaginary trigger.

Any form of trigger is a bad idea as it is a guarantee that it will be killed or bypassed by the time the 5+ years rolls around. That's why industry loves it. It buys them more time to influence.

Dont be fooled.