Why The Political Blather About Public Option Might Be Important To Us
What is a public option in healthcare reform and could it make a difference for clear skies locals? Well, it just might.
What is a public option? Obama supports the concept without details, which gives the devil a fearful place to go.
Doc Hastings played on fear when he called the hopelessly impassable H.R. 3200 bill “a massive government takeover of health care.” He skewered that bill like a groundskeeper spiking litter after an Eastmont football game, but didn’t clarify anything.
Sen. Maria Cantwell prefers reform that allows “people to choose between a robust public option and a range of private insurance companies, … resulting in better coverage for a better price.” Better coverage at better prices sounds like another undeliverable political promise, but I read on.
A robust public option is verbiage from the 70-member House Progressive Caucus. It envisions a non-profit corporation that sells low-cost insurance with reimbursements to doctors based on the quality of care instead of the number of procedures. Stuart Freed, M.D. and medical director at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center prefers a quality-of-care approach. The non-profit would negotiate with drug and medical equipment companies to provide insurance nationwide, but compete in a market exchange with the same ground rules required of other carriers. Considering this non-profit a massive government takeover of healthcare would be like thinking an insurance office in East Wenatchee would take over the valley’s healthcare systems.
To stifle that threat of such a takeover, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, D-Mont., told the Congressional Daily that a public option had to meet basic principles: "Make sure it doesn't set prices, [and] there really is competition, where government is very, very light."
Baucus decided the best way to keep a public option’s role very, very light is not have one. Instead he included a plan to subsidize insurers that offered policies to individuals with approximate incomes from $14,000 to $22,000.
In Cantwell’s mind, these people would be at a disadvantage in negotiating with subsidized carriers. She cited a study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation, that found 85 percent of those people who shopped for insurance never got coverage.
Cantwell abolished the Chair’s subsidy plan with a limited public option. Her amendment redirected the subsidy money to states that set up a fund for the purchase of health insurance coverage for this group of people. Cantwell believes such a plan could provide insurance for 75 percent of the uninsured population, covering those who feared losing coverage, or being denied medical treatments for illness.
Washington State’s Basic Health Plan has 20 years of operating experience and never attempted a massive governmental takeover of healthcare.
Cantwell’s plan is on top of a measure she’s already included that would reward doctors for providing high quality care instead of the number of medical services performed. If healthcare reform includes those incentives, our valley may benefit greatly because non-profit Central Washington Hospital and the for-profit WVMC cooperate and innovate.
We’ve got talent in our area and we have a senator who is working to deliver significant reform for us. We should care about those reforms in healthcare.
What is a public option? Obama supports the concept without details, which gives the devil a fearful place to go.
Doc Hastings played on fear when he called the hopelessly impassable H.R. 3200 bill “a massive government takeover of health care.” He skewered that bill like a groundskeeper spiking litter after an Eastmont football game, but didn’t clarify anything.
Sen. Maria Cantwell prefers reform that allows “people to choose between a robust public option and a range of private insurance companies, … resulting in better coverage for a better price.” Better coverage at better prices sounds like another undeliverable political promise, but I read on.
A robust public option is verbiage from the 70-member House Progressive Caucus. It envisions a non-profit corporation that sells low-cost insurance with reimbursements to doctors based on the quality of care instead of the number of procedures. Stuart Freed, M.D. and medical director at Wenatchee Valley Medical Center prefers a quality-of-care approach. The non-profit would negotiate with drug and medical equipment companies to provide insurance nationwide, but compete in a market exchange with the same ground rules required of other carriers. Considering this non-profit a massive government takeover of healthcare would be like thinking an insurance office in East Wenatchee would take over the valley’s healthcare systems.
To stifle that threat of such a takeover, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, D-Mont., told the Congressional Daily that a public option had to meet basic principles: "Make sure it doesn't set prices, [and] there really is competition, where government is very, very light."
Baucus decided the best way to keep a public option’s role very, very light is not have one. Instead he included a plan to subsidize insurers that offered policies to individuals with approximate incomes from $14,000 to $22,000.
In Cantwell’s mind, these people would be at a disadvantage in negotiating with subsidized carriers. She cited a study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation, that found 85 percent of those people who shopped for insurance never got coverage.
Cantwell abolished the Chair’s subsidy plan with a limited public option. Her amendment redirected the subsidy money to states that set up a fund for the purchase of health insurance coverage for this group of people. Cantwell believes such a plan could provide insurance for 75 percent of the uninsured population, covering those who feared losing coverage, or being denied medical treatments for illness.
Washington State’s Basic Health Plan has 20 years of operating experience and never attempted a massive governmental takeover of healthcare.
Cantwell’s plan is on top of a measure she’s already included that would reward doctors for providing high quality care instead of the number of medical services performed. If healthcare reform includes those incentives, our valley may benefit greatly because non-profit Central Washington Hospital and the for-profit WVMC cooperate and innovate.
We’ve got talent in our area and we have a senator who is working to deliver significant reform for us. We should care about those reforms in healthcare.
Posted by JSR at 10/8/2009 2:36 AM 
Categories: Adventures in Retirement:Health for thriving, Politics
Tags: public option Rep Doc Hastings douglas county Sen. Maria Cantwell east wenatchee wenatchee
Categories: Adventures in Retirement:Health for thriving, Politics
Tags: public option Rep Doc Hastings douglas county Sen. Maria Cantwell east wenatchee wenatchee
Personally I think that the Senate Finance Commmittee Chair was right about his proposal. I think that the plan to subsidize the insurers is the very best option to healthcare reform. Perhaps you would also have to ensure that those healthcare plans were accepted by all hospitals and doctors, otherwise it could lead to poorer care. However, you could also offer government subsidies to the doctors and hospitals that accepted the government subsidized insurance. I think this is a less dramatic way to make sure that everyone has health insurance.
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