I just thought of trigger for mandates too if they’re going for PO trigger. I’m not convinced it’s silly at all. If the priv insurers actually reform with the possib. of there being a mandate they’d have to go along with the PO as well. I think there’s something to this if PO won’t pass the troglodite Sen. That way you may not get the ins lobbies fighting against firing the trigger.

I didn’t vote for Rahm Emanuel for president.

Mr. President, sir, you’re a spineless coward and a liar, but at least we’re only going to have to deal with you for one term.

1. Mandate: so everyone is covered and economies of scale can be applied to reduce costs.

2. Strong public option: absolutely necessary to prevent private insurance companies from windfall profits that likely will result from (a) the substantial increase in the number of people purchasing insurance as required by the mandate, and (b) arbitrary decisions by private insurance companies increasing the cost of insurance without regard to the cost of the medical and pharmaceutical services covered by insurance.

3. Tying public insurance compensation rates to Medicare’s rates, plus 5%.

4. Adequate federal subsidies that assure the insurance is reasonably affordable.

5. A set of mandatory minimum requirements that every insurance plan must have to prevent the sale of junk insurance.

6. No exclusions for preexisting conditions.

7. No caps or cancellations because the cost of an individual’s health care got too expensive.

8. Portability: So the insured can keep the policy even if he or she changes jobs, gets laid off or terminated, or moves to another state.

9. Choice: To keep employer provided insurance or to purchase a policy through the Exchange.

The final bill must include all nine provisions because without them, we cannot solve the three major problems: Runaway costs, 47 million uninsured, and 22,000 preventable deaths per year due to lack of insurance or adequate coverage.

Of course, this is a backdoor argument for single payer which is the only solution that makes sense. I honestly don’t believe it’s moral, ethical, or responsible to compromise away any of these provisions because we’re talking about a fundamental right to life and the health that’s necessary to sustain it.

Triggers are a stupid waste of time because they haven’t worked in the past, the insurance companies have not earned a grace period and, in any event, the law will not go into effect until 2013.

but money is killing democracy as we know it,

What democracy? Money is not the only thing killing democracy. I’ve seen way too many gun-toting thugs stating that if the majority tries to impose their will on him, he will just take what he wants. Too many now walking around saying if the first amendment don’t work, the second one will. Things are getting away from us in a real bad way.

Maybe progressive fire would be best targeted at the real problem.

That would be a “Roger”.

Forgive me in advance for understating the painfully obvious, but money is killing democracy as we know it, and this collapse (if it happens) will be the defining moment when the lobbyists takeover of government was complete.

Should the public option be tossed overboard, the only future political activity I’ll ever support again will be campaign finance reform that eliminates (or at least severely curtails) lobbying in Washington.

Because anything else would be a waste of your time and mine.