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The Hill is reporting that Thomas Carper (D-DE) will probably unveil his newest terrible public option “alternative” in roughly a week:
“I expect early next week we’ll have something to share — not just with our colleagues, but with the broader community,” Carper told The Hill. Reid’s office did not comment for this article.
From what we know, Carper’s alternative is some form of non-public triggered co-op that will not be an option. It will serve none of the goals of the public option, and will be completely worthless. His alternative is not public:
Under Carper’s proposal, the bill would establish a national public insurance program founded by the government but managed by a non-governmental board.
It will also not be an option because it will only be available if triggered:
The public option would kick in for states where insurance companies fail to meet standards of availability and affordability of plans.
Carper’s non-public triggered co-op is a useless Frankenstein monster built from all the terrible ideas meant to cripple the public option. It is not public. It will not be available nationwide on day one. It will not be able to take advantage of Medicare’s provider network or HHS’s expertise running a large public insurance program. It will not be an option because it will be subject to a trigger designed to never be pulled. Even if the trigger is pulled in a few states, the plan will be too small to function or survive. This is not a “compromise,” it is just piece of theater to pretend that the public option was not completely killed.
The article claims Harry Reid instructed Carper to come up with this unworkable plan B. Reid’s real plan B should have been to get an even stronger public option using reconciliation. If this awful non-public triggered co-op is added to the bill, it will be purely because Reid decided to betray progressives, the grassroots, and Americans in need of protection from private insurance companies. Reid would be doing this solely to keep Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln happy. Giving in to Lincoln’s and Lieberman’s crazy demands will only make passing progressive legislation more difficult moving forward. Capitulation is not leadership, it is a hinderance to the movement.
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I think that you are wrong on this. The language at The Hill, does NOT indicate that this is a Co-op, although by emphasizing the fact that the public insurance option would have an independent board, the article gives the false impression that it may be a co-op. Any public insurance option would be managed by an independent board that would provided to act according legislatively defined mandate. I think that this is windowdressing to get the centrists on board. An opt in, opt out with a trigger is as good as a plain opt-out public option, if not better.
I read about the Carper “assignment” yesterday, so don’t remember the “leaked” details, but it all was pretty terrible. I don’t see anything in teh post that contradicts what I read.
Carper is a supporter of teh trigger anyway; absolutely the wrong person to pick if Reid isn’t planning a betrayal.
Any sort of “compromise” is a betrayal because what’s on the table now is already a horrible compromise of compromises.
Carper is not a friend of the public optionl, or of the public.
Keep smoking that crackpipe sansoouui.
Please Sen. Burris kill the bill!!!