For anyone who thinks that Republicans will accept Obama's health care plan

[eridani]

-any more readily than they will accept single payer.

The reality is that Republicans will fight any health care plan that Democrats propose. Reviewing the history of Clinton’s attempted health care reform in 1993, it is important to remember that it was not really universal care, but a plan concocted by large insurers that would have involved massive public subsidies to themselves combined with a government request that they insure more people, pretty please with sugar on it and a cherry on top. Small and medium insurers would have been put out of business, so they launched the Harry and Louise ads.

Republicans absolutely refused to compromise under any conditions. "The plan should not be amended; it should be erased," conservative pundit Irving Kristol advised the GOP. And not merely because Mr. Clinton's scheme was (in his view) bad policy, but because "it will revive the reputation of the party that spends and regulates, the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests."

They are planning to do the exactly the same thing this year. Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, put it succinctly in a recent blog post: “Blocking Obama's health plan is key to the GOP's survival.” He claims that if Obama succeeds in passing health care, then people who might have been conservatives will like it, and will be more likely to vote for the people who passed it.

We are looking at implacable opposition from Republicans to changing health care regardless of how incremental the changes are, so why not come out for the plan that does not require more money than we are already spending on health care? If we then have to compromise to get a less optimal plan, at least the compromise will be better.

[Thrill]

1. The Healthcare plan is something they will pass because they

can pick off a few Repukes to pass it

[leftstreet]

2. I predict the Republicans will adopt single payer into their platform

It's what Americans want.

Both parties know it.

[eridani]

5. That would be nice, but not necessary

All that has to happen is that their constituents scare a significant minority of Repubs into supporting it. That tactic worked with the last minimum wage bill, which passed a Repub-controlled congress.

[John Q. Citizen]

3. Not just with Repos, it was DOA with Dems also, and for good reason.

My guess is they The Dems will leverage their plan with single payer and say take your pick to the Repos. The public will back single payer but get subsidized private health insurance companies, ala the MA Romney model.

[eridani]

4. The Romney model is already an unsustainable disaster

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2007/september/health_reform_failur.php

And 244,000 of Massachusetts uninsured get zero assistance - just a stiff fine if they don’t buy coverage. A couple in their late 50s faces a minimum premium of $8,638 annually, for a policy with no drug coverage at all and a $2,000 deductible per person before insurance even kicks in. Such skimpy yet costly coverage is, in many cases, worse than no coverage at all. Illness will still bring crippling medical bills - but the $8,638 annual premium will empty their bank accounts even before the bills start arriving. Little wonder that barely 2 percent of those required to buy such coverage have thus far signed up.

While the middle class sinks, the health reform law has buoyed our state’s wealthiest health institutions. Hospitals like Massachusetts General are reporting record profits and enjoying rate increases tucked into the reform package. Blue Cross and other insurers that lobbied hard for the law stand to gain billions from the reform, which shrinks their contribution to the state’s free care pool and will force hundreds of thousands to purchase their defective products. Meanwhile, new rules for the free care pool will drastically cut funding for the hundreds of thousands who remain uninsured, and for the safety-net hospitals and clinics that care for them.

[John Q. Citizen]

6. Yep, it's the new 'health care reform derivitive.' Everybody is doing it and we are all gonna get

rich!'

Either that, or Americans all get out the door and down to their reps office and demand real change.

When you choose the Repo solution you get the Repo screwing.