*Tonight Sen Wyden appeared on Olbermann about mostly the current pub opt proposals. He makes clear that having a walled off PO is big insurance dream. It will be so limited that the pool has no leverage to really control costs the way we need. The larger the numbers in the PO the better it will be for lowering premiums for all. Wyden’s concern, and many of liberals, is that the current PO will be a dumping ground for the sick which big insurance doesn’t want. Worse, most Americans, to their consternation, wont have any choices. This means big insurance has little accountability and will continue abusing its clients with denials etc..
Wyden tonight says he is in talks with President Obama on the matter of the public option being to limited. He also is speaking with Reid on how weak this PO will be if not opened up to millions. Wyden once again vows to go to the floor on this issue and raise the heat: the party rhetoric is we must have a PO to hold ins. Accountable and lower cost. But the reality is the PO may not be able to do this if so very limited esp. if customers whoa re employed by a large employer remain trapped with one ins. Plan and nowhere to turn.
More in vid:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
In TNR Cohn had a forum on reform with Rep Weiner and Sen Wyden. Cohn argues the PO needs to be more open esp. if Pelosi and CPC cannot get the Medicare PO in the bill. If we use negotiated rates this means more cost to all of us- HHS would negotiate with inflating rates across the country. Not having them pegged to Medicare Plus 5 would be harmful to all as costs wont go down like they should, like Rep Grijalva and Woolsey say.
If we end up with the weaker negotiated rate PO then PO needs to be vastly enlarged. The bigger the pool, the stronger the PO and bargaining power to lower costs. At the forum Weiner said in order for real reform we must have more than a "sliver" here of the PO. People support the PO because they want a way to get out of their Cigna plan. Weiner is of course VERY supportive of opening the PO greatly.
Cohn went to SEIU about why do they not advocate opening the PO and exchange to most people. SEIU appears now more supportive of what Wyden is doing on choice. More below:
Wyden’s Choice and Yours
Suzy Khimm
October 27, 2009 | 9:17 pm
What good can the public option do if not enough people can access it? That’s the question that Senator Ron Wyden has been raising a lot lately. And he did it again this morning, at TNR's health care reform event [1]. It's part of his campaign to pass what he's called the "free choice" amendment, which would allow people with access to employer-sponsored insurance to reject those plans, redirect their employer contributions, and buy coverage instead through the new insurance exchanges.
The odds are still against the amendment's passage. But Wyden's crusade has been generating media attention and, more recently, generating some enthusiasm on the left--where Wyden has had some trouble over the last year. Why the sudden surge of interest? With some form of a public option seeming more likely, supporters are wondering why it shouldn't be available to everybody. A case in point is Representative Anthony Weiner, who sat to Wyden's left during the event. If the public option is available only to people without access to employer-sponsored coverage, Weiner warned, relatively few people could use it. It'd be, as he described it, "a sliver of a sliver."
And limiting the public plan's enrollment...would affect everybody who might benefit from its influence on the marketplace. With only a limited number of participants, and with rates that are unlikely to be tied to Medicare, the public option is far less likely to drive down prices than both its supporters and opponents expect, as Ezra Klein explains [2].
Oh, and if the exchanges are state- rather than nationally based, that will mean even fewer people--and possibly more opportunities for the public plans to become dumping grounds for the old and sick. (The smaller the exchange, the thinking goes, the greater the danger it ends up with a risk pool tilted towards the sick.)
Politically, the trouble for Wyden has been the staunch opposition of business and labor alike. But he found at least limited support today from Dennis Rivera, of the Service Employees International Union, who said "I agree with Wyden that if we’re only going to have 10 percent who have access [to the exchange], we’re not going to be achieving our goals." (SEIU supports making the exchanges open to businesses, although it hasn't formally endorsed Wyden's call to make the exchanges available to all individuals.)
...modest changes, at least, aren't out of the question. After all, which Senator said [3] that stronger exchanges were a big priority, shortly after voting for the Finance bill? None other than Olympia Snowe.
http://www.tnr.com/...
For video of TNR's event, click here [4].
Source URL: http://www.tnr.com/...
30 Min video of today’s TNR event w/ Weiner and Wyden:
http://www.c-span.org/...
*Imp Note: Openleft and other blogs will today launch a push of calls to DC for the ROBUST PUB OPT. We are very close and leadership will make decision on which PO to use today or Thurs. Huffpo- if negotiated rates used it will increase bill cost by 85 bil and Dems say they will cut subsidies to make up for it. We must be ready to hit the phones once our target lists come out today!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...