Robert Reich discusses the public option..September 8

[madfloridian]

Run time: 02:39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w0brzIsOOQ   Posted on YouTube: September 08, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 09, 2009 By DU Member: madfloridian Views on DU: 932

 
Here is more of Reich's discussion on the public option. He says a "trigger" for the public option is nonsense

Sept. 9, 2009 | I was just on the phone talking with a reporter for a national media outlet who referred to Senator Olympia Snowe's idea for a public option "trigger" as the "centrist position." Whoa. When the mainstream media start naming something "centrist" the game is almost over, because just about everyone with any authority in our nation's capital wants to be at the "center."

Let me back up a step. The public insurance option has become a lightning rod for Republicans, hate radio jocks, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page and lobbyists for the health-industrial complex who accuse the White House and Democrats of planning a "government takeover" of healthcare. Anything that has the word "public" in it is always an automatic target for their rants. But most Democrats understand that a public insurance option is essential to control healthcare costs and expand coverage -- both because private for-profit insurers now face so little competition in most markets that only the prod of a public option will force them to lower costs and extend coverage, and also because a nationwide public option would have the scale and authority to negotiate lower rates with drug companies and healthcare providers, thereby pushing private insurers to do the same.

The White House is looking for a way to be in favor of a public option but also get enough Blue Dog Democrats -- many of whom hail from swing districts and states, and therefore need some cover -- to vote for it. One such cover is a Republican senator from Maine named Olympia Snowe. If she votes for the bill, Blue Dogs can calm their constituents -- who have been worked up into a lather by the right -- by saying "You see? Even a prominent Republican senator is voting for this."

He further says:

The best way to give Blue Dogs cover is for the president to explain clearly and boldly why the public option is essential to healthcare reform, and why he's ready to veto any bill that doesn't include it. That's also the only way to give the nation a good chance of getting true healthcare reform. Hopefully, that's what he'll do Wednesday evening.

Otherwise, we get a trigger to nowhere.

[madfloridian]

1. That was a quick unrec.

Guess Robert Reich is being thrown under the bus now.

[aesco77]

2. ???

im confused as to his views
he says that it is nonsense yet the article seems to support
it
care to clarify the trigger?

[madfloridian]

3. He is explaining how they are using Snowe as an excuse...

both the Blue Dogs and Progressives. It is a convenient out for them.

He is saying we need it.

[bertman]

4. Short, sweet, and accurate description.

Recommend highly.

[madfloridian]

5. Yes. Glad to see him come out about the issue.

:hi:

[bertman]

6. He's been supportive all along. I think he realizes that it's now or never, so he stepped up.

No wonder he isn't in the administration.

:hi:

[rollingrock]

7. This is why

Obama's idea of the public option won't work. In tonight's address to Congress, he said only 5% will qualify for it, so most people won't even be given the choice to use it!

[madfloridian]

8. And it's 4 years away.

.

[rollingrock]

9. That's crazy

Wow, 4 years? I heard the whole speech, but didn't catch that part. It seems to be true though.
The WH version of the healthcare bill: an even bigger pile of dung then I could ever imagine.

[madfloridian]

10. From the transcript...

This is how I read it:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/09/transcript-obama-addresses-congress-health-care-reform/

OBAMA: And all insurance companies that want access to this new marketplace will have to abide by the consumer protections I already mentioned.

This exchange will take effect in four years, which will give us time to do it right. In the meantime, for those Americans who can't get insurance today because they have preexisting medical conditions, we will immediately offer low-cost coverage that will protect you against financial ruin if you become seriously ill.

OBAMA: And the insurance reforms that I've already mentioned would do just that, but an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange."