(Trigger Talk Is Back) Blue Dog Leader: Public Option Unlikely To Survive Conference Report

masuki bance

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Sun Aug-23-09 07:25 PM
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(Trigger Talk Is Back) Blue Dog Leader: Public Option Unlikely To Survive Conference Report

Blue Dog leader: public option unlikely to survive conference report
Michael O'Brien
August 23, 2009

A public (or "government-run") option in the healthcare bill before Congress is unlikely to survive conference between the House and Senate, a leader of the centrist Blue Dog coalition said this weekend.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-N.D.) said that while there is a good chance the preliminary House bill will contain the controversial provision, the final bill which will head to the White House probably won't contain the option.

"I think that it will not survive the conference committee," Herseth Sandlin said during an interview with The Daily Republic. She said any version to pass through the House would have to be "structured under very stringent requirements to meet the many concerns that people have about the potential of driving out private companies that would offer plans on the exchange."

Blue Dogs have been reluctant to back the version of the healthcare bill in the House, over concerns about the public option, as well as over some of the taxes used to finance the $1 trillion bill.

Herseth Sandlin did not signal whether she would back healthcare cooperatives, a compromise under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee in order to bring in centrist Democrats' and Republicans' votes for the reform bill.

The South Dakota Democrat, the Blue Dogs' co-chairwoman for administration, said that if the healthcare bill were to have a public option, she would prefer it have a "trigger."

She did predict a more extended timeline for the healthcare debate than those in House and Senate Democratic leadership, who have said that they want to have a bill ready for the president's signature by October.

"I think there will be a real full-court press by the White House to try to get both chambers to act on something just to get it out of the chambers, get it to conference if the Senate Finance Committee can act," she said. "I think you're looking at November, possibly December before something can be signed."

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/08/23/blue-dog-leader-public-option-unlikely-to-survive-conference-report/

From The Daily Republic Mitchell, South Dakota-

...Q: Where do you stand on it (public option)?

A: I would prefer that a public option, if we have one, would have a trigger. I want to take a closer look at the co-op proposal before I take a position on whether I think co-op or a public option with a trigger, with a look back, is the most appropriate mechanism to hold private insurance companies accountable to hold down costs. As I said at the forum, Medicare Part D actually has a trigger for a government-run Medicare Part D option. It hasn’t been triggered because thus far, even though we have started to see premiums increase for seniors who take Medicare Part D, they have been able to keep the costs below what was projected. ... That’s why the Blue Dogs put forth in our statement of principles that if we have a public option, we’re not convinced it’s necessary. If we have one though, it has to be structured this way — you have to carry a reserve. You have to negotiate rates so you’re competing fairly and offering true choice in competition. … Many Blue Dogs, including myself, want to see how the co-op might be structured. We would be comfortable with a member-owned, nonprofit, member-operated system. I think we still have some work there before I can determine my preference.

http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/36296/

Who is this woman? I have never heard that she was a Blue Dog leader before. This trigger talk is BS, no trigger, we need a straight up public option.