In my prior diary, I posted about Senator Schumer's so-called public option compromise which received over 806 comments, many of which were well-reasoned, and motivated by righteous anger to let Senator Schumer and other Senators know that handicapping the public option to make it a "level playing field" for the murder-by-spreadsheet industry is not what we want out of health care reform.
This was the Schumer compromise posted in the New York Times:
¶The public plan must be self-sustaining. It should pay claims with money raised from premiums and co-payments. It should not receive tax revenue or appropriations from the government.
¶The public plan should pay doctors and hospitals more than what Medicare pays. Medicare rates, set by law and regulation, are often lower than what private insurers pay.
¶The government should not compel doctors and hospitals to participate in a public plan just because they participate in Medicare.
¶To prevent the government from serving as both "player and umpire," the officials who manage a public plan should be different from those who regulate the insurance market.
Well, we now know that the murder-by-spreadsheet private insurance cohorts like the idea of the Schumer so-called public optiondue to what Senator Schumer said about the murder-by-spreadsheet industry's reaction to his so-called public option compromise.
Hoping to balance competing interests, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) this week unveiled a health care proposal that includes a government option that would operate similar to private insurance — it would establish a reserve fund, charge premiums and co-payments, and offer tiered coverage that would be priced accordingly.
Schumer, the Democratic Conference vice chairman, is optimistic his proposal can fill the chasm over a public plan. Schumer, who acknowledged the divide will be difficult to bridge, presented his proposal Tuesday at a Finance Committee hearing.
"It’s going to be hard, and the devil is always in the details," Schumer said. "But the outline that I put together was not pushed off the table by the private insurers."
Yes, the devil is always in the details, Senator Schumer. Here's what I typed in opposition to the Schumer so-called public option.
I don't think the public plan should be self-sustaining, because if it's wholly reliant on money raised from premiums and co-payments, that means that the premiums and co-payments will be higher than those of the premiums and co-payments offered by private health plans.
And yes, the government should compel doctors and hospitals to participate in a public plan, otherwise the doctors and hospitals will refuse to take the patients in the public plan just like they refuse to take on any new Medicare patients. In order for the public plan to work, it has to have widespread participation by medical professionals which translate to universal access for Americans. In any city, town, or state, they should be able to go to a doctor who can't refuse to take them on. In a small town, a doctor might be enticed by private plan insurers to refuse patients from the public option. That's why I'm against the second bullet point in Senator Schumer's cockamamie proposal.
And there should be NO private officials to manage a public plan. It MUST be managed by the government to promote efficiency and to reduce administrative overhead in the public plan. There can be NO appointment of officials from the private health insurance industry to manage the public plan.
This sort of "middle ground" is unacceptable for me.
And once again, why are we handicapping the public option to make it a level playing field for the murder-by-spreadsheet industry? It doesn't even make any fricking sense at all.
One of the kossacks, Dallasdoc, posted a comment in response to that diary below:
Who the hell is Chuck Schumer to be attaching conditions to a public option? Where is his expertise on health care? And why did Max Baucus, notorious corporatist tool, ask Schumer to attach such conditions as a "compromise"? Compromise with whom?
The only condition I have a problem with is the first one. If we are to get to true universal health care we'll need public funds to subsidize coverage for those who can't afford it. Private insurers already get scads of money from the public purse to provide coverage under Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and other programs -- why shouldn't these be rolled into the public option? It's a nonsensical condition, which can only have been included to sabotage the public option as a viable means to universal health care.
The other conditions do not seem unreasonable. Medicare payments are indeed notoriously low and a public option payer would be deeply unpopular if it offered equally low payments. Participation in Medicare and a public option should be delinked as long as they're separate programs, otherwise the unpopularity of Medicare would limit participation in the public option. And separating regulators from public option plan administrators is sensible to me.
The first main point of the Schumer so-called public option compromise is designed to weaken the public option. The other points are debateable, but we cannot rest easy and must always push for the BEST public option and not to handicap it from the start to alleviate the concerns of the murder-by-spreadsheet industry.
Please call Senator Schumer's office today and let him KNOW that his middle-ground proposals are unacceptable for you.
Here's his damn phone number:
(202) 224-6542
And call Senator Nelson to tell him that he MUST support the public option in health care reform:
(202) 224-6551
Call Senator Baucus and tell him that he SHOULD NOT WATER DOWN THE PUBLIC OPTION to appease the murder-by-spreadsheet industry and to use the budget reconciliation to get the BEST PUBLIC OPTION. The use of bipartisanship through 60 votes means that the public option gets watered down.
(202) 224-2651
I am willing to fight for the BEST public option every day. Will you please join with me and million others in this fight that we need to win? Please also Stand With Dr. Dean in this once-in-a-lifetime fight if you're as passionate about health care reform as I am.
Make no bones about it---the Senate is our enemy to actual health care reform. We must continue to apply pressure on our elected officials, so once again, do NOT let up on those calls to Congress!
CALL YOUR SENATORS HERE.
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES HERE at (202) 224-3121.