Stand Fast!

The New York Times ran a news analysis today online concerning “The Fading Public Option.” The public option plan proposed in the America’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009 (HR 3200) is being allowed to die before the House considers the Act in the whole.

Mr. Pear writes, in part:

“I just want to figure out what works, Mr. Obama said in March at a White House forum. If he could drive down health costs and expand coverage entirely through the market, he said, I’d be happy to do it that way…if there was a way of doing it that involved more government regulation and involvement, I’m happy to do it that way, as well.”

The Fading Public Option, Robert Pear, published in The New York Times (September 12, 2009)

We’ve Heard That Before…

There’s a striking similarity between the President’s quoted words here and those President Abraham Lincoln wrote about slavery and the reestablishment of the Union to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, in 1862:

“If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”

Greeley had complained in his paper that Lincoln’s administration was not using the new Confiscation Act to cripple the Confederates and end slavery, and he charged the President with being:

“…unduly influenced by the counsels, the representations, the menaces, of certain fossil politicians hailing from the Border Slave States…”

Lincoln, in rebuttal, reminded Greeley that the actions he took because of his official responsibilities did not correspond with his personal feelings about slavery. Fair enough.

Give Us Leadership or Give Us…What?

Damn it, Mr. President, Lead! If the public option is the right thing to do—and I believe it is—do it!

It’s not that a leader doesn’t change her or his mind. No, leaders change, but not when a bunch of bullies gang up against him or her.

President Obama and his administration may feel, with some truth, that it may be best to get a bill—any bill—enacted than to fail because of any particular element in the legislation proposed.

I'm inclined to believe that President Obama and his administration have been rattled by the vociferous lies, charges, and counter-charges made by the screamers amongst us, even in the US House of Representatives. I'm inclined to blame the President’s waffling on this issue to an over-sensitive ear tuned to the liars and the lobbyists, if he, indeed, is waffling on the subject.

Health Insurance & Health Care

I don’t believe a word from the insurance companies. Who could?

Those who run health insurance companies in our country are not concerned with patients and health care. They’re concerned over what lucre they can extract from us without paying much out in return.

Health Care Rationing

Government has not invented health care rationing, and we know it! Health care insurance has caused physicians and other practitioners to ration care.

Medicare Redux

Physicians and hospitals worry that the public option, if included in enacted legislation, will be like Medicare, writ large. Many fear that the public option will significantly limit their ability to impose “market rates” for services. Bottom line: a public option plan or plans will cause them to make less money off of us.

Health Care Cooperatives…Why Not?

You know why not! Health care cooperatives, as envisioned by some in the Senate and House of Representatives, would be far better than the public option plan or plans because…Why? Well, because they would be run by non-profit organizations, not by the dreaded federal government.

The fact is, that each such cooperative would work within a state or group of states , subject to the Insurance Commissioners in those states. Costs would be influenced by those state commissioners, limiting their ability to influence insurance costs. The body of insured, or pool, will be much smaller than one that spans the Republic, so costs will be higher than with a public option. Finally, premium costs will differ from state to state or region to region.

Socialized Medicine, Socialism, and The Public Option

According to some on the right, the greatest concern is that the public option will lead to a national single-payer health care system, and that’s bad; really, really bad. Why? Some claim that:

• Single-Payer=Socialized Medicine
• Socialized Medicine=Socialism

Here’s a little secret: we already have “socialized medicine.” Consider these:

• Medicare
• Medicaid
• Public Health Service
• DoD Health Services
• Veterans Administration health care system
• TriCare for Life (available to retired military members and their spouses)

It’s true that our Founders did not conceive the possibility that the federal government would be involved with health care. The Founders also did not foresee:

• The Interstate Highway system
• The Inter-coastal Waterway
• The Department of Health and Human Services
• The US Air Force
• The silicone chip
• Lamps that did not use whale oil
• FedEx
• Germ Theory
• The Telephone
• Manual Morse
• The Radio
• DNA (or RNA)

The Founders did not know of physicians who would operate with anaesthesia or sterilized instruments, use PET or CAT scans, MRIs, or treat infectious disease without bleeding the patient.

If 200 million US citizens purchase public option plans, and if the private health insurance companies find they cannot compete and so go out of business, who benefits?

You and me, that’s who. And, you know it.

Keep the Public Option—It’s The Correct Thing To Do.