Snowe's Public Option Trigger Idea

I like the fact that Olympia Snowe is at least thinking about health care reform and generating ideas, a stark contrast to most of her party. There doesn't appear to be many thinkers in the republican party, or Congress for that matter. I like Snowe's trigger idea. A lot.

If costs could be lowered, more people could afford insurance. But if the insurance industry doesn't drive down costs, then a public option awaits. That is a great compromise because it provides an incentive to insurance companies to do what they're supposed to do and it doesn't eliminate setting up a government insurance option. This may be what we hear from Obama on Sept. 9:

The compromise plan would lack a government-run public health insurance option favored by Obama, but would leave the door open to adding that provision down the road under an idea proposed by Snowe, the sources said.

One of the sources said White House officials are "deep in conversations" with Snowe on a much smaller health care bill than Obama originally envisioned.

The modified proposal would include insurance reforms, such as preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, according to the source.

The potential deal would give insurance companies a defined period to make such changes in order to help cover more people and drive down long-term costs. But if those changes failed to occur within the defined period, a so-called "trigger" would provide for creating a public option to force change on the insurance companies, the source said. CNN

It's not going to make liberals happy, though. Many liberals have already dismissed it but they're just shooting themselves in the foot because the only other option they have is to pass a public option through reconciliation, a process that is iffy at best.

Shumer Says Senate Health Care Bill Focused on Cost Cutting

I think the wealthiest among us can stand more of a tax burden but taxing them for the purposes of paying for health care reform (what the House wants to do) just ain't right. That would be taxes on top of taxes. Shumer says the Senate bill is focused more on cost cutting, which seems like the right thing to do.
Shumer says the August deadline on health care is important to strive toward. A group of six senators is asking for more time to achieve a bipartisan bill, including Sen. Olympia Snowe, whom Shumer says, in the video below, Obama respects. Paul Krugman says that's not a good idea. He calls the six senators (including two republicans) the "destructive center." Krugman views them as caving on principles (he says the center also watered down the stimulus). The left views it as a blow to reform.
But that seems a bit ideological to me. Obama is insisting it will get done this year and haven't we had enough of ideology, whether it comes from the left or the right?

I think the centrists have it about right. The left wants to do the right things but they don't ever consider costs and they always view business as the bad guy. I don't think Obama is striving for bipartisanship for the sake of bringing everyone together.
Rather, being more inclusive brings more ideas (and sometimes better ones). That's the best part of the Democratic Party--it's a big umbrella. The only folks left under the republican umbrella is the Sarah Palin base and a few stragglers hoping for change.