"I've been concerned by the fact that some news articles about "the public option" made passing mention of the fact that it was to be limited to the people who are currently uninsured.
"This article takes up that major issue, which has previously been mentioned only in passing in news reports regarding the public option in the several House committee versions of the health reform bill.
"Specifically, those versions all limit the public option's availability to persons who were previously uninsured. In plain language, what that means is that the previous monopoly which private insurance companies have held on the market (except for Medicare) will be protected against competition! That's a BIG DEAL! But a dirty one. And certainly it's not providing what Obama has promised in this reform, namely health insurance competition "on a level playing field". That's what I have been trying (unsuccesfully) to talk to Feinstein about, and is what I feel needs to changed and included in any "ROBUST public option", i.e. one available to anyone who wants it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment