The public option is dead

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U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman has a bipartisan group of senators ready to help pass health care reform — minus a government-run insurance plan.

...

"If we create a public option, the public is going to end up paying for it," Lieberman said following an hour-long confab with public-health experts at the Ashmun Street community center of the Monterey Homes public housing complex. "That’s a cost we can’t take on."

...

The public option plan aims to cover 95 percent of the uninsured; require all Americans to have insurance; cut costs; and tax companies that don’t provide insurance to employees. The idea has met with public approval in opinion polling, but resistance from Republican lawmakers, some conservative Democrats, and insurance companies.

...

Some "80 percent" of the evolving health care reform enjoys broad bipartisan support, he said. That includes changing the incentives in the current system to reimburse people for more "staying well," through preventive check-ups and wellness programs.

"We’re not going to get the votes to pass the overall bill if [the public option] becomes a condition of it," Lieberman claimed.

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archive...07/post_459.php

[AlHayatZween 2]

i don't know what to say except:

The idea has met with public approval in opinion polling, but resistance from... insurance companies.

no surprises there.

That includes changing the incentives in the current system to reimburse people for more "staying well," through preventive check-ups and wellness programs.

i'd like to hear more about how they plan to do this. (the commercial about getting a free scooter because you are too "sick" move is repeating itself in my head.)