Obama caves to GOP, nixes 'public option'

See? Why were you Repugs worried about Obama? All along, it's the liberals like me who should have feared he was a corporate sellout. And now it's happened (again). Money and power did their thing. Obama caved.

So, the compromise deal will probably include state health insurance co-ops. Once those fail, and if Obama is re-elected to a second term, then we'll have another shot at real reform. If Obama isn't re-elected, then we'll have to wait another 4-8 years. So, long story short, we're talking about a four- to 10-year delay of the inevitable "public option." Meanwhile, all you Repugs get to high-five each other for enraging and scaring the crap out of America; and you can rejoice in the continued millions of uninsured and their needless, avoidable suffering. And four to 10 years from now, we liberals will get to say, "I told ya so." Gee, sounds like a great deal.

Making legislative sausage aint pretty. The sight of it can even make you sick.

White House appears ready to drop 'public option'

By Philip Elliot

August 16, 2009 | (the George Soros-funded and controlled) Associated Press

Bowing to Republican pressure and an uneasy public, President Barack Obama's administration signaled Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system.

Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession probably would enrage Obama's liberal supporters but could deliver a much-needed victory on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.

Officials from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind when they returned to their districts for an August recess. Obama had wanted the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured, but didn't include it as one of his core principles of reform.

Under a proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private industry, not unlike the way electric and agriculture co-ops operate, especially in rural states such as his own.

With $3 billion to $4 billion in initial support from the government, the co-ops would operate under a national structure with state affiliates, but independent of the government. They would be required to maintain the type of financial reserves that private companies are required to keep in case of unexpectedly high claims.

"I think there will be a competitor to private insurers," Sebelius said. "That's really the essential part, is you don't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing."

Obama's spokesman refused to say a public option was a make-or-break choice.

"What I am saying is the bottom line for this for the president is, what we have to have is choice and competition in the insurance market," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday.

A day before, Obama appeared to hedge his bets.

"All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform," Obama said at a town hall meeting in Grand Junction, Colo. "This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it."

It's hardly the same rhetoric Obama employed during a constant, personal campaign for legislation.

"I am pleased by the progress we're making on health care reform and still believe, as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest," Obama said in July.