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from Crooks & Liars video cafe:
Gupta and Blunt Lament the Insurance Industry Being Put Out of BusinessBy Heather Monday Jul 20, 2009 2:00pm
Watch:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/gupta-and-blunt-lament-insurance-industryCNN's Rick Sanchez brings in Michael Moore basher Sanjay Gupta and Rep. Roy Blunt to lament the horrors of private insurance companies no longer being able to reap massive profits on the backs of United States citizens. If we did by some miracle actually ever get to universal health care in the U.S., it would not mean these companies are out of business completely. They would still be offering supplemental insurance to compliment the government plan. In the world of the Gupta's and Blunt's out there, that would be a tragedy.
Blunt goes so far as to cite Medicare Part D as an example of just how well Republican health care reform has worked with giving consumers "choices". Yeah, the "choice" to line the pharmaceutical industry's pocket.
SANCHEZ: Roy Blunt is joining us now. He is a congressman from Missouri. He is good enough to talk to us now.
Congressman, thanks for being with us. I imagine the news that you are hearing, that there are problems here in the city, are ones you would have expected. But let me start you somewhere else and ask you, OK, what would your plan be?
BLUNT: Actually, that's the interesting thing about this debate, I think, Rick, is everybody agrees on the top line issues. We believe, I believe, as the leader of our group on our side that's tried to bring our committees together to work on this, I think we are in generally broad agreement.
We need a plan that has -- we need a health care system that has access for everybody regardless of preexisting conditions, one that has more competition, more choice in a way that would make it more affordable, and one that ensures that people have the maximum opportunity to make their own choices about their doctor and their health care.
So we agree on the goals, and our biggest disagreements are how you get there. And probably the biggest disagreement of how you get there is whether the government is going to run a plan that doesn't broaden competition, but actually eventually eliminates all the competition.
SANCHEZ: It's interesting, and I will let you maybe discuss this with my colleague, Sanjay Gupta, who has been giving this a lot of thought, and he seems to be suggesting, and Sanjay, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but maybe something in the middle may be the answer, right?
Because if you do everything based on profit, as you suggest, congressman, that leaves you some holes as well. And we all know if you let the government take care of it itself, that may leave you some holes. Sanjay, would you suggest a mixture of the two would be the way to go?
GUPTA: There are several different issues sort of at play here. and as far as a mixture of the two goes, people have suggested sort of a public/private option. And I am not sure if Representative Blunt is referring to that specifically or how he feels about the idea of a public option.
Let me lay it out this way. The public option would be, the way it has been presented would be for people who cannot afford health care and need some sort of subsidy or some other system in which they can purchase into to get their health care insurance. ..........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/gupta-and-blunt-lament-insurance-industry