Posted on 08/16/2009 2:29:50 PM PDT by Steelfish
White House Appears Open to Insurance Co-ops
JOSEPH BERGER August 16, 2009
The Obama administration sent signals on Sunday that it has backed away from its once-firm vision of a government organization to provide for the nation’s 50 million uninsured and is now open to using nonprofit cooperatives instead.
Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, said on Sunday morning that an additional government insurer is “not the essential element” of the administration’s plan to overhaul the country’s health care system.
“I think there will be a competitor to private insurers,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That’s really the essential part, is you don’t turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. We need some choices, we need some competition.”
Her less-than-forceful insistence on a government insurance organization was paralleled by Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary.
“What I am saying is the bottom line for this for the president is, what we have to have is choice and competition in the insurance market,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
The administration, mindful of steadfast Republican opposition to a government insurer in addition to Medicaid and Medicare, has previously indicated that it could accept nonprofit insurance cooperatives as an alternative, and the Senate Finance Committee appears to be forming a bipartisan consensus around the idea of nonprofit insurance cooperatives.
The health care industry prefers that format, even though many liberal Democrats have argued that cooperatives would not have as much sway over the prices Americans pay for health care.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You are correct. I’m not certain what the plan B actually is
Plan B is prying one finger at a time from our freedoms - once we let go that’s it - they’ll forever have control.
Now that’s very perceptive of you. This is a shrewd and crooked bunch we are dealing with.
No this is a head fake just say No! They will just add this later Kill the bill NOW!
There is a real health care crisis looming - shortage of isotopes.
It’s time to put their beliefs to the test. Dr Zeke, what are you going to do about the babies and elderly that will need those tests?
OMG! We are dealing with disaster here. Hopefully, someone wiser than I am, will appear to put an end to this madness in the White House.
Perfect reminders. Thank you.
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