No public option='industry...windfall without...countervailing force to...lower their costs'

[Eric J in MN]

(Olympia) Snowe, among the few Republican senators still trying to come up with a bipartisan compromise, wants to hold back on creating a public plan for now and give insurers one last chance to show if they can keep costs in check.

That's doesn't go far enough for liberals, who are loath to give the insurance industry tens of millions of new customers supported by taxpayer subsidies.

"It would give the industry a windfall without any countervailing force to require them to lower their costs," said Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for the advocacy group Health Care for America Now. "The insurance companies could continue to jack up premiums while getting a whole new market."

Competition lacking among private health insurers

[polichick]

1. Giving them another chance is CRAZY - how many years has it been??? nt