Do you support a public option in health care reform?

[Vepres]

I've been interested to see this debate play out here on the Atlas forums.

Let the debate begin.

[Frodo]

While I still strongly prefer the Wyden-Bennett Healthy Americans Act to what is currently emerging from Congress, if we do have a public option, I would rather it were a co-op instead of a full-fledged government-controlled public plan. 

[Marokai Backbeat]

Without a public option, there is no "reform" here to speak of. That being said, I would prefer I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Single-Payer system, British style.

[Frodo]

I've been interested to see this debate play out here on the Atlas forums.

Let the debate begin.

Another question you might want to add is whether those who support adding a government-controlled public plan do so only with the understanding that it serve as a Trojan Horse in steadily driving private insurers out of business, and instituting single-payer by stealth, or whether they genuinely want a public option that serves only to spur private insurers to lower their prices and to keep them in business.

[Nym90]

Yes, though single payer is superior.

[Lief 🗽]

As Marokai said, "reform" without a public option is not reform. And co-ops are such a neutered version of the public option that they'll achieve very little. Single-player is of course preferable, but obviously that's not happening yet.

[Mechaman]

How about both a public and private option? Like our school system?
It's simple, those who don't like to wait 18 months for surgery can go with the private option, those who are cheap bastards can go with the public option.

My friend from Brazil says they have a health care system like this and it sounds pretty cool.

[Mint]

No. If we did that then almost everyone would opt for that and it would just wind up being yet another unaffordable entitlement. Really I agree with Romney's proposal for this, flawed as it is it's much more cost effective than anything this joke Congress has proposed.

[Vepres]

There needs to be a way to get them to compete without a public option. They're practically a monopoly.

As much as I hate to say it, I think the best way to do this would be to end employer-based coverage. McCain's plan was pretty good, though it needed vast improvements in my opinion.

And where's the anti-trust lawsuit? If a big name politician sued, boy that would have many good effects on the industry.

[Lief 🗽]

How about both a public and private option? Like our school system?
It's simple, those who don't like to wait 18 months for surgery can go with the private option, those who are cheap bastards can go with the public option.

My friend from Brazil says they have a health care system like this and it sounds pretty cool.

Yes, that's exactly what's being proposed. All American will have a choice between the plethora of private health insurance providers and the government insurance plan.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I've been interested to see this debate play out here on the Atlas forums.

Let the debate begin.

Another question you might want to add is whether those who support adding a government-controlled public plan do so only with the understanding that it serve as a Trojan Horse in steadily driving private insurers out of business, and instituting single-payer by stealth, or whether they genuinely want a public option that serves only to spur private insurers to lower their prices and to keep them in business.

Are private schools no longer in existance?

[Lief 🗽]

I've been interested to see this debate play out here on the Atlas forums.

Let the debate begin.

Another question you might want to add is whether those who support adding a government-controlled public plan do so only with the understanding that it serve as a Trojan Horse in steadily driving private insurers out of business, and instituting single-payer by stealth, or whether they genuinely want a public option that serves only to spur private insurers to lower their prices and to keep them in business.

Are private schools no longer in existance?

Nope. Also there's no such thing as the UPS or DHL or FedEx, because of the crushing public post service monopoly the government has.

Even in civilized European countries with government insurance, many people still have private plans to add on to their public coverage.

[Franzl]

Even in civilized European countries with government insurance, many people still have private plans to add on to their public coverage.

Yes, I do, for example. (My dad's a teacher in Germany...and there's some type of requirement for employees of the state....or something like that )

It doesn't drive private insurance out of business, but it's certainly not fair competition. There are lots of problems with the German health system (and I don't mean rationing or whatever else Republicans like to cry wolf about), my aunt's a hospital doctor in Germany and her salary is just plain absurd compared to what she'd make in many other countries.

I don't like the idea of government insurance, personally, although I think it may be the only way to actually ensure that everybody has access to healthcare. Ensuring access is imperative, in my opinion.

So all in all, I'm still kind of undecided in what I'd really support happening in the U.S. What is clear for me is that the current American system is a bad joke.

[Earth]

Yes, though single payer is superior.

[Ogre Mage]

Absolutely.  As others have said, health care reform without a public option is not reform.  And the public option should be a strong, viable option.  It will give people a benchmark to measure against private plans, be a powerful force for controlling costs and provide a key safety net for millions.  A crucial point will be finding a way so that doctors are reimbursed based on health outcomes rather than just number of treatments/visits.

I also think the public option will be important in determining if single payer is necessary or not.  Perhaps this hybrid system will prove the most workable solution and the public-private balance will provide the best of all worlds.  Or perhaps the insurance industry will be unable to reform itself and everyone will move to the public option.  But that way, single payer will happen because health care consumers will have decided that it be so.

[Scam of God]

And where's the anti-trust lawsuit? If a big name politician sued, boy that would have many good effects on the industry.

BAW BAW ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION IS BAD BAW

[/right-libertarian]

That's what we need: anti-trust regulations, not a public option. Monopolization contravenes the free market by ending all the benefits it offers, chiefly innovation. But the fascists that pass for economic right-wingers these days would never allow it.