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...or at least one of them. The problem is that the public option will not be funded by taxes, but will be pay as you go. Now I fully expect it will be less expensive than the best quality private plans available, but it certainly will not be free, and it will cost thousands of dollars for most middle class Americans.
Right now my insurance, which is not especially good but not the worst and I expect it's probably about what the public option will offer, more or less, is free. If my employer drops insurance coverage to save money, and I have to buy insurance myself-- I won't qualify for any subsidies-- it will break me. I just don't have ten or twelve thousand extra dollars each year, or even half that. Many folks are in the same boat-- we've got middle of the road group plans that our employers offer but would love to be rid of, and cannot afford to buy insurance ourselves.
That's one reason the public option is not single payer universal health care. It will be a nonprofit alternative to commercial insurance, likely less expensive on an plan-for-plan basis but I expect it will still be out of my reach, or buying it will further erode my security and quality of life.
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