Yesterday Senator Russ Feingold issued a statement on a reported deal between liberal and moderate Senate Democrats on health care reform:
“While I appreciate the willingness of all parties to engage in good-faith discussions, I do not support proposals that would replace the public option in the bill with a purely private approach. We need to have some competition for the insurance industry to keep rates down and save taxpayer dollars. I will base my vote on the bill on the entirety of what is in the bill, and whether I think the bill is good for Wisconsin.”
The deal being reported by CNN would replace the public option by creating a not-for-profit private insurance option overseen by the federal Office of Personnel Management, much like the current health plan for federal workers, and another allowing people 55 and older to buy into Medicare coverage that currently is available only to those 65 and older.
Didn’t we already do this private/public nonsense with Blue Cross/Blue Shield?
Yeah, and it worked smashingly well!