Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbie
What is the "public option"?
EDIT: Okay, I took my own advice and looked it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_...surance_option
Apparently this is what Pres. Obama actually campaigned on according to what I read there...and then backed off on it in favor of ObamaCare when he actually became President.
It was basically a govt. run insurance agency that would compete with private run insurance agencies.
And of course...just like the "single pay" (income tax paying for it)...there was no way in hell that the giant Insurance companies were ever gonna let that pass.  |
Pretty much. Unlike Obamacare a public option would have actually provided a good form of cost control. There is NO WAY they wanted the competition. They know government run health insurance would actually be pretty good and would eat into their profits, much better to jump through a few hoops to get the government to force them to have tens of millions of new customers with weaker cost controls.
Otherwise you'd think the idea would be theoretically possible to sell to freedom loving americans being only an "option" in the market they could take or leave. Although judging by the propaganda around obamacare it would probably still get called a "GUBMINT TAKEOVER" or the "DEATH PANEL OPTION".
Personally I think as long as people are free to take out private health insurance it shouldn't matter what poorer people do on government based options.
We have single payer in my country and it works quite well but I also have private health insurance so for example when we had our baby we had a nice hotel-like room to ourselves both me and my partner slept in for a week at the hospital with the baby with ocean views and nurses who took the baby out of the room to settle her and let us catch up on sleep after the birth. No sharing a room with another couple who's visiting family might come in with coughs and colds to give to the newborns like you might have to in a public hospital (you can get single rooms in public hospitals but not guaranteed.) I can claim back all sort of crap on private health insurance, eg massages and acupuncture (although I don't believe in it) and it doesn't cost a lot because it has to compete with the free single payer system and things like MRI's don't have a bloated cost around it as both single payer and private health people use the same machines in most towns.
The only real issue is they kinda force you onto it if you're high income. Basically they make you pay a levy if you're rich enough to afford it but don't choose to take it up. The levy is about the cost of private health insurance so it's a bit silly not to take it up. But that's how good the underlying public system is in the public's eye, not enough wealthier people were taking up private insurance instead favoring the public system! (not rich rich.. but like if your family income is 175-200k is starts to kick in at a low level)