By the way - when we get the Public Option it must be a robust Public Option

[ThomWV]

Just because something is included in the final bill that is called a Public Option doesn't mean that any old bare bones coverage will do. The Public Option should at least mimic the coverage available in any of the several plans that make up the current Federal Employees Health Benefits plan. In fact the benchmark for the Public Option should be that it provides competition to the insurance currently available to all Government Employees, including Congressional Representatives, Senators, and members of the Administration.

How say you?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Sounds like a plan to me!

:thumbsup:

[Pharaoh]

2. Yes

[enlightenment]

3. I agree - unfortunately,

if the CBO analysis of the two bills currently floating around the House and Senate is close to accurate - and there aren't MAJOR changes before one or the other (or both) move forward - it won't be robust. It will be downright puny.

[rhett o rick]

4. Although I agree with your subject, your public option isnt as robust as I would like.

While the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan is good, it still includes private insurance companies. We need a government plan like Medicare for all.

[ThomWV]

5. What I meant to indicate was a plan that had the best features from each participant

I believe there are guidelines defining the minimum coverage a company must offer to qualify to be on the list of those plans included in the FEHB - so those services would be my minimum but not provided by private insurers, provided in one single package completely operated by public employees - with nothing in the core mission contracted out.

So basically if company A from the FEHB offers mental health care, then the Public Option has to have mental health care, if company B has dental then the Public Option has to have dental, if Company C offers fully paid paramedicals, then that too, and on and on. The Public Plan should be a compilation of the best of the best, offered at cost with no profit involved.

[truedelphi]

6. Thanks Tom. K & R n/t

[eridani]

7. The only way to do that effectively is to let people voluntarily buy in to Medicare n/t

[ThomWV]

8. I think it would be silly for the Government to have 2 different plants - so yes, I agree

But let's make the Medicare more palatable to the medical community by paying 100% of costs - after cost savings have been realized from the legislation that is on the table now. Let the savings measures be put in place first and let the reimbursement rate equalization follow. That sound reasonable?

[eridani]

9. Yes--West Coast legislators have a number of proposals for equalization

Also, Senator Cantwell has suggested a tax on hedge funds to pay for health care.

[bobbolink]

10. After hearing on Thom Hartmann about Matt Taibi's article in Rolling Stone,

I'm not so sure about the "Public Option" anymore.

I haven't been able to find the article, but what I heard on Hartmann is very disturbing.

[Old Studentka]

11. Define "robust."

Does it include the swg.pr.chu exemption? If it does, then why should anyone support it?

We need an all-the-way PO!

[janx]

12. "swg.pr.chu"

Are you speaking a foreign language?

[comtec]

13. You mean like TRI-Care?

butt-ugly glasses, but damned good about everything else!

My sister is undergoing breast cancer treatment (long cry about that) thanks to her husband's tri-care, he's in the Coast guard, and his CO just transferred him to a base closer to treatment. A 3-hour car ride, and they'll pick her up!!!!!

I really can't tell you how comforting that is.

On the flip side my best friend, literally forever, found a lump on his testicle. He is waiting on test results. He's on SSI and I think medicare. A lot of things aren't covered and I don't know if this will be, or how much, if it is cancerous. So there's a good chance my friend will die from cancer, untreated, while my sister may live.

I love them both dearly, and I don't want either of them to die, especially not to be in pain. I'm trying NOT to think about it.

But there you are. My best friend, known since I was 7, may die if there is no public option... fuck that UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE!!!

And here I sit... safe... hiding in Europe. Taken care of. 100 bux a month, my wife pays 120, and that covers her diabetes, and 5000euro a year insulin pump, supplies, etc.

i have to stop now... crying at work is a bad thing.