This letter is in response to statements made by the UF College Republicans’ chairman, Bryan Griffin, and the Florida College Democrats’ president, Ben Cavataro, in Tuesday’s article “Locals react to House vote.”
Mr. Griffin, it is true that Speaker Pelosi did not listen to the people, but she ignored conservatives, progressives and moderates alike. The vocal conservative opposition is well known. What hasn’t been widely publicized is that nearly 60 percent of Americans want a government-run health care option. Where is their representation in Congress?
The public option in HR 3962 is a sham. It will only please the ill-informed Democratic base and anger the ill-informed Republican base. The biggest problem is that this government program will not be available to all. In addition, the rates are not tied to Medicare. The implication is that the government program will have to negotiate rates like any other insurer. The catch is that when the plan opens, it will have no enrollees, meaning health care providers will have little incentive to offer the volume discounts available to other insurers.
Another problem is that subsidies will be available to citizens not enrolled in the public plan. With this mechanism, the situation above turns out to be a Catch-22. As the government program is unable to control prices, very few people will enroll in it, leaving it perpetually weak and unable to compete in the market. So no, Mr. Cavataro, the public option will not help control costs.
With the inclusion of mandatory insurance requirements and the Stupak-Pitts amendment, I think that I would be OK if Sen. Joe Lieberman filibustered the bill. And, as a progressive who believes in the social safety net and Keynesian economics, that hurts to say.
