I'm stupid..

what exactly is "public option"? I know i could probably google it I would like to hear from a person what it means.

At this point it would have to be self financing, and individuals who cannot afford to pay health care premiums would get a subsidy.

As it currently is laid out they could use that subsidy for either a public or private option.

edited to add:


The real benefit of the public option, IMHO, is not how it is inaugurated but its ability to evolve. Eventually it would prove to be more economical AND MORE RELIABLE than private care (you will have less arguments about what is and what is not covered).

Eventually we could simply subsidize the option and do away with the more inefficient and time consuming individual subsidy.

federal option if it's self-financing?

The Post Office, for example, is run by the government but meant to be self financing.


A better example are airports which provide a government run architecture that allow airlines a more efficient market to compete in.

In the health care analogy it would allow doctors and other providers a more efficient mechanism to compete in.

In this way the Public Option actually helps foster competition and market efficiencies where it counts - where people actually use the services.

I always wondered what that meant since the freepers started sobbing about it.

I went to Jason's last night and watched MSNBC and CNN (I don't have a television here at home) and I kept hearing this over and over again.

Yes, I agree. The real benefit to the public option is its ability to evolve. To an ever greater extent, important decisions will rest in the proper hands: our own hands, as we act through our government to both provide the best possible health care and impose and enforce the best possible rules of fairness. This is the next step in the long march for our rights against the selfish, corrupt tools of Corporate America.

I've heard so many explanations of public option "out there" that I'm confused beyond all get-out. I always learn way more here at DU, so thanks for asking the question.

One thing I DO know for sure, WE WANT IT!

"So we don't know wtf to do"

insurance polices, the for-profit companies that wrote them, and the employees of those corporations?

:shrug:

Maybe a little more time spent on figuring out how to allocate taxpayer monies for the benefit of the public good, rather than the benefit of corporations.

It's not brain surgery.

needed to be phased out, were there? Correct me if I'm wrong, I honestly don't know.

But too true -- we need to figure out how to use our taxes for OUR benefit, not that of the corporations.

strong public option. If, let's say, 25 million people signed up immediately for the public option, a combination of those that currently have no insurance and some who liked the premium price and could 'live' with a not-so-frilly policy, and then those 25 million told 25 million more how pleased they were and how much less they had to shell out, then within 5 or 10 years, there'd be 50 million on the public option. Let that grow, and within 25 years, only a small percentage of the wealthy would be holding for-profit, private policies. Bingo, you have single payer.

I'm not sure how you connect allocation of taxpayer monies with the public option. The only thing I know about that would use taxpayer dollars is the subsidy plan which can be used for either public or private insurance.

he explained how his single payer plan would address those concerns. There's a bill going up for vote in Congress on Friday which I (again) think is his plan. Others who know will set me straight if I'm wrong.

As distasteful as the insurance industry behemoth is, it's understandable that just pulling the plug on them would create a whole new financial nightmare. In addition to the reasons you cite, there are those who sell insurance for a living, people whose 401Ks have invested in insurance companies, etc.

It's such a mess and it's so sad this is the current state of America. :(