Dr. Dean: Dems need to open up Medicare to people over 50 before 2010 elections

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2009/10/07/dean-public-option-will-hurt-democrats-in-2010-elections.html

Dean: Public Option Will Hurt Democrats in 2010 Elections
The former governor also said he thinks Schumer's plan can pass
By Kent Garber
Posted October 7, 2009


Former Gov. Howard Dean said this morning that the public option for health insurance still has a chance in the Senate but warned that its passage could hurt Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections.

"My guess is that Schumer's version {of the public option} can pass," Dean said at a healthcare roundtable on Capitol Hill, referring a recent proposal by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.

Schumer's plan, like other public-option proposals, would create a government-run insurance company, but it would not tie doctors' and other healthcare providers' payments to Medicare rates, which tend to be so low that doctors lose money when they treat Medicare-covered patients. Instead, it would let providers negotiate those rates.

Schumer's proposal was defeated 13 to 10 last week in the Senate Finance Committee, but it fared significantly better than a more politically liberal alternative put forth by Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. Rockefeller's proposal would set reimbursement rates for doctors at Medicare levels.

Dean said he expects the more liberal House Democrats to "to pull the Senate back" by insisting on a public option of some form in the final bill. "We have to be able to choose between a public option and a private option," he said, adding that no such option is in the Senate Finance Committee bill.

But he also warned that the public option may hurt Democrats politically next year. "If the Democrats want to hold on to their majority, you're going to have a problem," he said. That's because the public option wouldn't be up and running until 2013, long after the 2010 elections, meaning voters won't really see any benefits until long after the election.

To address that problem, Dean said Democrats need to do something that will have tangible results by next summer. His proposal: opening up Medicare to people over the age of 50 so that a "certain mass" of people will already have benefited from health reform by the elections. "You need to have people sign up for this program by July 2010," Dean said.

... and wouldn't have to worry about getting all of those "potential pre-existing conditions" treated now before my next job or before my COBRA benefits run out...

makes too much sense. :kick:

This is the answer. You don't have to rename it, rebuild it except
for fixing the stupid reforms Congress put into place a few years
ago. Let everyone under 65, without coverage they have or want, to buy into
Medicare. More people with Medicare coverage will allow it
to become solvent and with the ability to pay doctors more money.

In the long prose of K.O.'s speech last night, he was right
in saying we need to quit framing the argument using "public option"
and instead use "expanding Medicare."

I don't think Obama's playing chess here, like progressives
like to think. I do hope he knows this is his only chance
to get this right.

I so wish he could be in charge of health care.
I hope they are listening as I think he is so right on this.

inaction on health care and no public option, those seats will go to repukes who sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing. If the voters punish Dems over this we're screwn on a variety of issues. It's to everyone's advantage for the Dems to get it together and pass something meaningful.

Let employers make it an option -- and/or offer their employees Medigap coverage.

People 50-65 are screwed.
Laid off at 50, too "old" to ever get a job, and no affordable health insurance available.

If this idea becomes a reality, the Dems will win 2010 and 2012 in landslides.

and open Medicare for EVERYONE!!!! Medicare E - HR 676 - Health Care for ALL.