I've put a challenge out on my own blog and I even asked the question on Huffington Post as a comment to a story with almost 3,000 comments. I put it on Facebook too. Still no real answer.
The question:
Why is the public option better health care reform policy than extending Medicare to all, Medicare E (everybody) single payer?
I'm asking for a policy argument, not a political argument and I explain after the fold.
One person on facebook sort of half heartedly suggested that it might save jobs in the insurance industry, but there were many answers to that argument. Insurance will continue to exist with Medicare for all. There are Medicare supplements and there are premium coverages for the wealthy. Maybe workers would do better to find jobs in other sectors of an economy improved by health care reform. The only argument made so far didn't hold a lot of water, so I'm still waiting for an answer that moves me.
I'm not looking for the political reasons. I've heard them before and I think the goings on of this summer, and so far this fall, have proved them incorrect. The public option did not quell the fearmongering. Apart from the nonsense about "death panels" and "socialism", there were real questions. The public option is not reform in a vacuum. It comes with exchanges, mandates, premium subsidies, and federal contracts for administrators. People noticed that the choice component of the plan was the employers choice, not the employees. People noticed that mandates and premium subsidies might put upward pressure on costs even though the public option is supposed to put downward pressure on them. People noticed that administration of the public option was to be contracted out, privatized. No, the Chamber of Commerce did not end up suporting the public option, although you said the it would "resonate" with its members. These political arguments have not panned out as far as I have seen. So, I only want to hear the pure policy argument. I've asked, why is it better policy than single payer? I'm still waiting for an answer.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not just asking rhetorically to make a point. I really want to know. People that I know who are supporting the public option have actually stopped speaking to me for my support for single payer. How dare I mention it they say. How dare I write out my disagreement on my blog. "It's off the table," they cry. But, for all the angst and anger, so far no one has given me a reason. I've done a lot of research and spent a lot of time synthesizing the arguments and I still want to know.
This is my last try for an answer.