First I saw this tweet from David Shuster:
Then comes this piece on Politico:
Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell POLITICO.
- snip -
On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.
Obama has said that the perfect is the enemy of the good. But the real enemy is the private insurance industry. IF the public option is dead, then the enemy has won.
I applaud any regulations that end rescission and end pre-existing conditions exclusions. These are the no-brainer incremental measures.
Sen. Kennedy called universal coverage the cause of his life. He also said:
Incremental measures won't suffice anymore.
Implementing an individual mandate to have health insurance without a viable, quality low-cost alternative that the public option would provide is tantamount to giving private insurers their own printing presses from the US Mint.
A substantial portion of the uninsured in America come from working families of small businesses that don't offer health benefits. Since their employers don't offer health insurance, their only real recourse is the private individual health insurance market. Whereas group insurance policies pay 85-90% of premium dollars to medical care, individual policies typically pay 65-70% of premium dollars to medical care. Compare that to Medicare at 96-97%.
How is this the fiscally responsible move to make? If we are going to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize the purchase of insurance, I'd rather have a public option that pays 95% of premium dollars to medical care instead of 70% of private insurers. Why piss away 25% into stockholder profits and CEO bonuses?
Keep up the pressure on your Representatives, Senators and the White House. Give us a quality low-cost alternative. Give us the public option.
EDITED TO ADD Yes, we have anonymous sources proclaiming it dead. Clearly that doesn't mean it is actually dead. But if this is some sort of trial ballon, we need to pop it.
It is incumbent upon us to let the administration know that big reform with a public option is possible and popular. WE need to make some constructive noise to pierce the Beltway bubble.
It isn't time to abandon the administration, it's time to bolster their courage.
FIGHT FOR THE PUBLIC OPTION. BE HEARD.
From the Netroot For Healthcare crew:
Now It's Your Turn To Rally For Health Care Reform!
From Organizing for America to MoveOn, from Health Care For America Now to Town Hall events, there's so much going on.
There are over 2000 HCAN events scheduled! That means there must be something near you. If you can't make it out to a town hall, head out to one of these huge rallies and make sure you show the numbers are on our side! Click Here to search HCAN's website. Here are some upcoming events:
For a list of more specific upcoming events, check out my friend mindoca's diary listing tons more stuff going on.
No matter what, we can all take action at home with an LTE, and follow @OFAOnTheBus as they travel to rallies across the nation. Health insurance reform is too important not to stand up and be counted!