BoberFett
Lifer
- Oct 9, 1999
- 37,563
- 9
- 81
I'd say rather that the public option is a single payer option within the full system, just as the VA. But either way, the public option is a very short walk to collapse of the private health insurance business, as the federal government now also has total control over its competitors and can simply mandate a very low payout for its program knowing the balance must be made up from its competitors. We're seeing the same thing in Medicare/Medicaid where the reimbursement is usually below the cost of providing the service.
Except that the question was a public option with a wall between it and the treasury, meaning any such system would have to be self funding, and therefore couldn't use public funds to push private options out of the market via predatory pricing.
Personally, I'd be 100% for a public option of that sort, assuming they'd be running under the same rules as private companies. Let's prove just how good or bad government coverage can be. Either it will quickly show us how greedy private insurance companies are, or will prove the Republicans right and that government bloated and poorly run the government is.