Reply #37: I think you are correct that these issues have not been settled.........

[Faryn Balyncd]

And it would appear that Dr. Dean does not believe that the president is necessarily wedding to changing his eventual proposal to include eliminating public options.

The proposal to eliminate, rather than open up, Medicare, and to create a totally privatized, mandated, and voucher supported system, has been promoted by Emanuel & Fuchs for several years. Two summaries are here: http://www.robert-h-frank.com/PDFs/Emanuel-Fuchs.NEJM.3-24-05.pdf and http://www.healthcareguaranteed.org/hcatglance.htm .

I personally believe that though Zeke Emanuel has good intentions, such a plan would be disastrous, and would put us on a path difficult to retrace.

There are 3 aspects of the Emanuel/Fuchs plan that its proponents would clearly like to keep under the radar: (1) that it would totally privatize Medicare, (2) it would mandate the purchase of private insurance, and (3) as a voucher supported system, it would be much more vulnerable to evolving into an unfunded mandate (as compared to Medicare or Medicaid) - - - - - All that would be required would be for a future right wing administration or Congress to hold voucher funds stable in the face of insurance price rises. Such a development would, rather than creating universal health care, destroy Medicare.

With Dr. Dean believing it vital to participate in these deliberations, do you really believe it best to just "wait & see"?