When President was candidate Obama, he boldly trumpeted a healthcare reform plan the included a public option. Now, as President – with the pressures of the lobbyists, legislators and other special interests building opposition and picking apart his carefully laid plans – his staff is putting out feelers that they will consider a healthcare bill with co-ops instead of the public option. Not good.
The whole point of the public option was to provide leverage and choices for the 47 million Americans who don’t have healthcare. If you include in those who are underinsured (people who have healthcare insurance, but it only covers the most catastrophic events), the number soars by millions more.
Now, the talk has turned to “co-ops,” a collection of smaller groups of people who pool themselves together to buy health insurance; presumably at less cost than if coverage were purchased individually.
The public option was to put competitive pressure on health insurance companies and move them closer to a position of true competition and provide a choice or option for those otherwise disenfranchised from the healthcare system.
Because of the government’s pure size (think Medicare), they are the only entity that can offer credible competition to health insurance companies. Although the companies will tell you they operate in a free market with intense competition, don’t believe it. They move together on major issues. They are an oligopoly. Competing against the government would force them to, at a minimum, insure people who are in less than perfect health and stop cherry-picking the ultra-healthy people to insure and leaving the sickly and chronically ill to “insurers of last resort” like Blue Cross/Blue Shield (in some states).
The co-op model effectively splits up the massive pool of 47 million+ uninsured people and prevents a critical mass from developing in any way that could challenge the pricing power of health insurers.
So, it appears that the Obama administration has floated a trial balloon and tested the waters (and public opinion) on the acceptance of a co-op model. It puts the insured at a significant pricing disadvantage and doesn’t ensure that the uninsured population has a safety net of health insurance coverage while in between jobs or while self-employed or whatever.
There doesn’t appear to have been much discussion on a hybrid model that uses the public option as the base or foundation for health coverage, and allows the private insurers to offer “enhancements” or “kickers” that make the public coverage much better and comprehensive. That should be explored more aggressively.
The nearly 50 million Americans without healthcare insurance need a solution…now. And, the co-op model is not the solution.
The whole point of the public option was to provide leverage and choices for the 47 million Americans who don’t have healthcare. If you include in those who are underinsured (people who have healthcare insurance, but it only covers the most catastrophic events), the number soars by millions more.
Now, the talk has turned to “co-ops,” a collection of smaller groups of people who pool themselves together to buy health insurance; presumably at less cost than if coverage were purchased individually.
The public option was to put competitive pressure on health insurance companies and move them closer to a position of true competition and provide a choice or option for those otherwise disenfranchised from the healthcare system.
Because of the government’s pure size (think Medicare), they are the only entity that can offer credible competition to health insurance companies. Although the companies will tell you they operate in a free market with intense competition, don’t believe it. They move together on major issues. They are an oligopoly. Competing against the government would force them to, at a minimum, insure people who are in less than perfect health and stop cherry-picking the ultra-healthy people to insure and leaving the sickly and chronically ill to “insurers of last resort” like Blue Cross/Blue Shield (in some states).
The co-op model effectively splits up the massive pool of 47 million+ uninsured people and prevents a critical mass from developing in any way that could challenge the pricing power of health insurers.
So, it appears that the Obama administration has floated a trial balloon and tested the waters (and public opinion) on the acceptance of a co-op model. It puts the insured at a significant pricing disadvantage and doesn’t ensure that the uninsured population has a safety net of health insurance coverage while in between jobs or while self-employed or whatever.
There doesn’t appear to have been much discussion on a hybrid model that uses the public option as the base or foundation for health coverage, and allows the private insurers to offer “enhancements” or “kickers” that make the public coverage much better and comprehensive. That should be explored more aggressively.
The nearly 50 million Americans without healthcare insurance need a solution…now. And, the co-op model is not the solution.
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