Reply #30: Check out these articles.

[Better Believe It]

"Public Option" Would Only Be Available To The Otherwise Uninsured
TPM Cafe
July 16, 2009

I'm not sure that people really understand how the "public option" would work, given the rhetoric of the adminstration that people could "keep" their current insurance if they want to or choose a public option.

Last night on The Daily Show, Secretary Sebelius, in response to a question, made things a bit clearer regarding just how the public option would work. She was asked "who would choose" whether or not to use the public option: the employee or the employer? The Secretary said essentially it would be the choice of the employer because if the employer provides health insurance then that is the insurance the employee would have to use. Only if the employer chose not to provide health insurance would the employee be able to enroll in the public option.

Most of the people I know that have employer provided health insurance are glad they have insurance as opposed to not having it, but they hate the plans they have because the expense is totally unreasonable and with each passing year, less and less coverage is provided while costs go up. So, leaving the choice to employers is not the same as providing choice to citizens at all.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/oleeb/2...

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It appears that the "public plan" may not kick in for employers with more than 20 employees unless "the Commissioner" permits larger employers to join the public plan in 2015!

And congressional aides say only about 9 million will be insured by public plan by 2019! 21 million will be insured by private companies in the exchange by 2019. Another 164 million would be insured with private insurance through their employers.


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The Health Insurance Exchange: It's run nationally, though states can opt out of the national structure and go it alone if they choose, and if they follow federal rules. In the first year, it accepts those without health insurance, those who are buying health insurance on their own, and small businesses with fewer than 10 people. In the second year, it accepts small businesses with fewer than 20 people. After that, "larger employers as permitted by the Commissioner." In other words, expansion is discretionary, not mandated. The only people able to access the public plan in the early years will be on the exchange, and the exchange will be, relative to the population, pretty limited. So the public plan will be limited, and so too will any anticipated savings.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/07/the...


http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_2_MOLT...