Legal Commentary

With "Supporters" Like This, The Public Option Does Not Need Opponents

By Big Tent Democrat

I wish Ezra Klein would just come clean and say he does not care about the public option:

[Howard] Dean's point was simple: "If you're not going to have a public option, don't have health-care reform, and strip all the money out of the bill." . . . I asked Dean how he could believe this, given that his 2004 health-care plan didn't contain a public plan but did contain a lot of dollars to fund expanded health coverage. He replied that it did contain a public plan. "It actually did have a public option. It allowed everybody over 55 to sign up for Medicare if they chose to. It allowed everyone under 25 to sign up for a Canadian-style system. It was optional." The argument behind the public plan -- the argument Dean is using now -- is that it competes with private insurance companies and transforms the entire insurance market. But this is, as Mark Schmitt says, a very new idea.

Suppose for a moment, it is a new idea, so what? Is it a good idea? Why doesn't Ezra write about that? Two potential explanations - one, he wants to label any health care plan an Obama win or two, he does not really support the public option. Time to come clean Ezra.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 18, 2009 (boomark / email).