I have an idea: When we realize we have a debilitating problem with our health care system and our medical bills are causing families to go bankrupt, why don’t we draft a reform proposal that actually does nothing to reform the system, but includes a procrastination clause that states that maybe later when the insurance industry is not sticking to their promises and millions of Americans are still uninsured and bankrupt- we might then decide to provide a solution. That way we can call it reform but really it’s just delay and avoidance. Sounds good right?
Well I can’t take credit because I didn’t come up with the idea – the conservatives and health insurance executives concocted that brilliant proposal. Yes, this ridiculous scheme – a fall back option for the public health insurance plan – actually does exist. It’s called the “trigger” and it is quickly spreading through Congress.
A public health insurance plan, either in the form of Medicare or an insurance pool that provides a choice of coverage for all Americans, has been the main topic of discussion in the health care reform debate thus far (unfortunately more progressive options such as single-payer health care are just getting laughed off of the stage by industry and conservatives – but hey, maybe one day we will get there.) The “trigger” is basically a way to kill the public health insurance option before it even gets out of the gate. The proposal calls for a public option to kick in a few years down the road, only if “triggered” – in others words, when private insurance companies fail to bring down health care costs and expand coverage. Well, we all know that in legislative terms “a few years” means never and that the private industry has already failed at cutting costs and expanding coverage. So why delay the inevitable need for a real solution?
But there is hope for health care reform, in fact, President Obama is not backing off of his stance for a public health insurance option. The President met with a group of senators last Tuesday and wrote a letter to Senators Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Baucus (D-Mont.), both chairmen on the leading health reform committees, that was wrought with a sense of urgency and insistence on a public choice for all Americans. See a clip from the letter below:
I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies honest.
