Chris Matthews of MSNBC"s Hardball has come up with a new and interesting meme during the Ted Kennedy memorial coverage.
He says he is now convinced that Universal Coverage will happen, but he doesn't know when. But he twice stated during discussions that if the Public option is sunk, he wants the private insurers to be regulated into a public utility status.
Of course, this would have as much support in the Senate, as the Public Option would have. The Repugs would never put more obstacles in the way of the greed of the Insurance Companies, no matter that without the Public Option, they would have only succeeded at giving the Insurance companies more customer to overcharge.
Still, I wonder why Tweety is floating this idea. Perhaps to threaten the Insurance Cos. and their supporters that the backlash of healthcare with no Public Option will be industry specific with strict regulation, and that, in fact, competition in the marketplace with a PO may be preferable.
Think long term, if the HC problem is not solved, the populist response will be pitchforks and torches, but the legislative response will be Regulation, Regulation, Regulation.
Much of this is the downfall of the current GOP and their corporate supporters. Their inability to compromise on any small point or for some longer term goal, forces them to go the wall on issues they can not win, and continues to marginalize them. It is pushing the Independents to the left, as they can find little of rationality and flexibility on the right.
Anyway, the taking up of this meme: "If we can't have the Public Option, we want the Insurance Companies to be Public Utilities" might function as the iron fist inside that velvet Healthcare glove.