Reply #15: K&R - Any plan that either drops the public option or weakens it MUST BE DEFEATED!!!

[Faryn Balyncd]

Any plan that does not allow ALL Americans to choose a public option whose underlying prices are based on Medicare rates is a victory for special interests and MUST BE DEFEATED.

Howard Dean defined "reform". Anything else is corporate welfare dressed up in the false rhetoric of "reform".

"If Barack Obama’s bill gets changed to exclude the public entities, it is not health insurance reform…it rises and falls on whether the public is allowed to choose Medicare if they’re under 65 or not. If they are allowed to choose Medicare as an option, this bill will be real health care reform. If they’re not, we will be back fighting about it for another 20 years before somebody tries again."

- Howard Dean

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/02/24/dean-public-option/

We have been told that when HR 3200 was weakened so as to not use Medicare rates for services that since the Secretary of HHS had the right to negotiate rates, he could still achieve rates similar to Medicare, and make the premiums for the public option reasonable.

We simply cannot weaken the public option further.

Durbin needs to know that if he is willing to consider a bill without a public option, or weakens it, it will not be reform, will not be "success", we will not support such a bill, and it must nmot and will not pass.