mrhealthguy
04-10-2009, 12:51 AM
President Barack Obama wants a public insurance plan to compete with private carriers. Democrats in the House of Representatives want a government-run plan. Apparently so do a majority of Democrats in the Senate. However, as of now there’s enough Democrats in the Senate opposed to the idea to keep the support below the 60 votes needed to pass health care reform legislation. A compromise being considered in the Senate, however, could change the math, creating the potential government health plans will be part of the health care reform package ultimately enacted by lawmakers.
Advocates for public plans were set back when the Senate Finance Committee defeated amendments to add a government medical plan to the health care reform bill its writing. But liberals immediately pledged to keep pushing for the public option and many claim a public option is critical to meaningful reform. Whether progressives would defeat health care reform which doesn’t include a public health insurance plan is uncertain, but it is possible.
Enter Senator Tom Carper from Delaware. Senator Carper is a thoughtful moderate who voted against one of the public option amendments in the Senate Finance Committee, but voted for another. He is floating a compromise that not only may appeal to liberals, but to moderate Democrats and, conceivably, to Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, the only member of her party considered likely to support a Democratic version of health care reform.
Politico.com reports that Senator Carper proposal would give “states the option of creating a competitor to private insurers, (these competitors could be) a government plan, a network of co-ops, or a large purchasing pool modeled after the revered Federal Employees health Benefits Plan.” Unlike a compromise suggested by Senator Snowe which would create a national government-run plan only if private carriers failed to offer affordable coverage to at least 95 percent of the population, Senator Carper’s plan envision only state (and, perhaps, regional) public plans and permits states to move forward if, according to another Politico.com posting, “if affordable insurance is not widely available or the insurance market is dominated by only one or two players.” (It should be noted Senator Snowe has not sought a vote on her idea by the Senate Finance Committee)
Brian Beutler, writing on the Talking Points Memo blog, predicts Senator Carper’s idea may fail to gain support from either liberals and conservatives. He writes, “Liberal critics will charge that, while the plan doesn’t involve triggers, it does lack the heft that a plan organized at the national level would have to bargain down prices with providers” while conservatives will reject it as the first step toward a single payer system. “
Advocates for public plans were set back when the Senate Finance Committee defeated amendments to add a government medical plan to the health care reform bill its writing. But liberals immediately pledged to keep pushing for the public option and many claim a public option is critical to meaningful reform. Whether progressives would defeat health care reform which doesn’t include a public health insurance plan is uncertain, but it is possible.
Enter Senator Tom Carper from Delaware. Senator Carper is a thoughtful moderate who voted against one of the public option amendments in the Senate Finance Committee, but voted for another. He is floating a compromise that not only may appeal to liberals, but to moderate Democrats and, conceivably, to Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, the only member of her party considered likely to support a Democratic version of health care reform.
Politico.com reports that Senator Carper proposal would give “states the option of creating a competitor to private insurers, (these competitors could be) a government plan, a network of co-ops, or a large purchasing pool modeled after the revered Federal Employees health Benefits Plan.” Unlike a compromise suggested by Senator Snowe which would create a national government-run plan only if private carriers failed to offer affordable coverage to at least 95 percent of the population, Senator Carper’s plan envision only state (and, perhaps, regional) public plans and permits states to move forward if, according to another Politico.com posting, “if affordable insurance is not widely available or the insurance market is dominated by only one or two players.” (It should be noted Senator Snowe has not sought a vote on her idea by the Senate Finance Committee)
Brian Beutler, writing on the Talking Points Memo blog, predicts Senator Carper’s idea may fail to gain support from either liberals and conservatives. He writes, “Liberal critics will charge that, while the plan doesn’t involve triggers, it does lack the heft that a plan organized at the national level would have to bargain down prices with providers” while conservatives will reject it as the first step toward a single payer system. “