Frankly, I think that the public option isn't the be-all end-all. The public option has been severely politicized, which I think is what Obama was trying to avoid upfront.
The left wrapped their heads around the public option as health reform's saving grace but there is so much that isn't being addressed in health reform. I'm hoping that whatever is passed is only the beginning. Ultimately, we shouldn't be getting healthcare from our employers. Paul Krugman seems to think whatever health reform legislation we get might only be a building block. He says there are problems with Massachusetts reform but people still want to build on reform:
The left wrapped their heads around the public option as health reform's saving grace but there is so much that isn't being addressed in health reform. I'm hoping that whatever is passed is only the beginning. Ultimately, we shouldn't be getting healthcare from our employers. Paul Krugman seems to think whatever health reform legislation we get might only be a building block. He says there are problems with Massachusetts reform but people still want to build on reform:
And reform remains popular. Earlier this year, many conservatives, citing misleading poll results, claimed that public support for the Massachusetts reform had plunged. Newer, more careful polling paints a very different picture. The key finding: an overwhelming 79 percent of the public think the reform should be continued, while only 11 percent think it should be repealed.
Interestingly, another recent poll shows similar support among the state’s physicians: 75 percent want to continue the policies; only 7 percent want to see them reversed.
There are, of course, major problems remaining in Massachusetts. In particular, while employers are required to provide a minimum standard of coverage, in a number of cases this standard seems to be too low, with lower-income workers still unable to afford necessary care. And the Massachusetts plan hasn’t yet done anything significant to contain costs.
But just as reform advocates predicted, the move to more or less universal care seems to have helped prepare the ground for further reform, with a special state commission recommending changes in the payment system that could contain costs by reducing the incentives for excessive care. And it should be noted that Hawaii, which doesn’t have universal coverage but does have a long-standing employer mandate, has been far more successful than the rest of the nation at cost control. Read the whole thing.
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