Howard Dean was in Denver today and gave an interview to the Square State Blog's Aaron Silverstein.
Speaking with Dean about a Public OptionSen. Ben Nelson has proposed a "trigger", where instead of adopting the reform, Congress would set goals for the insurance industry for seven years. As long as the goals were met, there would be no competing public plan. "That's a terrible idea," Dean said, "They will just change their behavior until the trigger runs out and go back to how they were."
Calling it "fake public option," Dean said that D.F.A. would actively fight against any such plan as being no public plan at all. The same went for any other plan that did not include a public option. "It wouldn't be reform. If we put more into a private system, we are just going to lose money."
He spoke more with Aaron about the public option.
Governor Howard Dean is in Denver today, to speak on behalf of Democracy for America about the need for a public option for health insurance. Prior to tonight's event, he took the time to answer questions from SquareState.net.
"Public Option" plans maintain our existing for-profit health coverage, but allow individuals to opt into a government sponsored system if they choose. As Dr. Dean was quick to illustrate, Medicare is an example of how the plan is already in place for many Americans. By making the option universal, D.F.A. hopes to expose more people to the efficiencies of insurance plans unfettered by attachment to a particular employer or burdened by the high profit and overhead of the private insurers. Proponents of the plan say that even customers of existing providers will benefit from the increased competitive pressures, and of course that same competition is driving stiff opposition from industry lobbyists.
He said that single payer advocates were not being given a fair hearing.
I asked Howard Dean if he felt that public option was getting a fair hearing from Sen. Baucus. He felt it was, but he was concerned that single-payer was not, because "I don't care what you say about single payer. It is much cheaper."
Was public option a stepping stone to single payer? "Well that depends on what the American people want. You know a lot of people already have a public system. It's called Medicare." He went on to say that people were fairly happy with Medicare, and if after using "cheaper and more reliable" government plans caused a large migration of accounts, he would be fine with that, but it was up to the people to decide.
If you are wondering about the "trigger" proposed by Ben Nelson, here is more about it from a diary at Daily Kos by Slinkerwink.
Help Us FIGHT For The Public Option TodayDemocracy For America has asked for our help to fight this stupid "7-year trigger" plan by the so-called Senate moderates such as Senator Ben Nelson. Once again, let's remind ourselves of what he said on this below:
Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat and another member of the finance committee, said he favors the idea of a "trigger" that would expand government-provided health insurance only if other new attempts at expanding health-care coverage through the private sector appear inadequate. Nelson said he is wary of a big expansion of the government’s role in providing care.
The public option, he said, should be seen as a "backup."
She has provided all the needed contact numbers.