Here's one thing I'd like to remind you guys about when discussing the Medicare buy-in proposal currently being floated---the Weiner single-payer amendment.
Remember how Rep. Weiner said that he'd bring up his single-payer amendment in the Energy and Commerce Committee? He was going to do that, but he agreed to remove it in exchange for a full floor vote on the House floor as not to impede the passage of the House health care bill out of the Energy and Commerce Committee due to the Blue Dog Democrats on that committee.
Then Rep. Weiner was supposed to offer it on the House floor for a full vote, but he withdrew it again because he was told no amendments would be offered because of the threat of the Stupak amendment. Guess what? The Stupak amendment got in, and the robust public option amendment and the single-payer amendment were never offered.
The reason I'm bringing this up is because of the Medicare buy-in proposal currently being floated, which still would leave out a majority of Americans under 55 and leave them at the mercy of private insurers.
My concerns stem from the legislative process. We don't even know by which legislative method that the Medicare buy-in will be offered. Here are the problems as I see it currently:
We don't even know if it'll be offered in the manager's amendment. If it's not in there but as a separate amendment, then it wouldn't have the votes to pass whereas the manager's amendment would have the votes to pass, and the manager's amendment might have language that strips the PO from the bill and replaces it with that laughable new insurance exchange of private plans. So we could end up with no public option and no Medicare buy-in.
Then we'd be back at square one. Potentially the Medicare buy-in would be offered as a separate amendment by one of the liberal Democrats in the Senate, who'd be the designated fall guy in case it doesn't pass. Then the conservadems get to pass a manager's amendment that strips the Senate bill of the public option and replaces it with that weird FEHBP insurance exchange that will do nothing to lower premium costs, and it does not suffice as a competitor to private insurance plans.
So, this is where the road could potentially lead. It's why I'm not jumping onto the Medicare buy-in proposal, and am waiting to see how it'll be offered as an amendment, or even if it'll be offered at all as an amendment.
We should take what happened to Rep. Weiner as a guide for liberals and progressives not to believe in what the Democratic leadership tells us, and to instead stand firm on what we want.
Once again, here's what KagroX said, "No trading the bird in the hand without another one in hand first."