HCR I told you so Talk now is of Private Insurers running the Federal plans

Perky

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Mon Dec-07-09 12:54 PM
Original message

HCR I told you so Talk now is of Private Insurers running the Federal plans

Edited on Mon Dec-07-09 01:16 PM by Perky

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30255_Page2.htm

Senate Democrats in search of a health reform compromise Sunday zeroed in on a new alternative to a government-run insurance plan � signaling that the chances a final bill will include a pure public option are diminishing.

The new idea � for the government to create a national health insurance plan similar to the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan � seemed to gather momentum as the weekend went on, and the differences between liberals and moderates on the public option became even clearer.

The proposal would take the place of a new government insurance plan currently included in the Senate version of the bill, according to officials involved with the negotiations.

The plan would be administered by the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal plan for members of Congress, and all of the insurance options would be not -for-profit ones offered by private companies.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a public option opponent who is participating in the talks, said the new proposal would do away with the government insurance program in Majority Leader Harry Reid�s current bill, which allows states to opt out of a public option.

�Seems to me it would be in lieu of the public option,� Nelson said. He also said Reid�s �opt-out� idea �is no longer being talked about.�

If the Senate goes in this direction, the challenge for Reid is framing this alternative as an acceptable compromise for progressives. Politically, the idea holds appeal for moderates, who have opposed establishing a new government insurance plan, but might also satisfy liberal demands for more choice and competition for private insurers.

�The proposal under consideration can be said to provide access to the same type of insurance plans that members of Congress and federal employees get. People think of that as government health insurance; progressives could portray this in the same vein,� said a Democratic Senate aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. �But moderates can simultaneously point to the fact that the government isn�t the payer and say competition was enhanced without growing the government.�

The Gov't option would be provided on a not for profit basis by the insurance insurance industry as a trade off of insurance reform.. By making insurance companies winners as well, Reid pick ups support from the Blue dogs and destroys the argument by the GOP that it is a bureaucratic boondoggle. Might get it out of the senate this way but it is going to piss off the progressive.

No one on the left is going to like it because it "rewards the insurance companies" but truth be told the primary issues are cost and access and consumer protection and not "punishing" the insurance companies for their profiteering.