Half of Americans might join the public option in an Obama plan by 2020

[Juche]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090306/ap_on_go_co/health_care_overhaul

A recent analysis by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit group that sponsors health care research, is giving supporters of a public plan some ammunition.

The study estimated costs and coverage under a hypothetical health reform plan similar to what Obama proposed in the campaign. It found that a public plan like Medicare could reduce projected health care costs by about $2 trillion over an 11-year period. Premiums in the public plan would be at least 20 percent lower, partly because of reduced administrative costs. Within a decade or so, some 105 million people would be in the public plan, compared with about 107 million with private insurance.








This is great. The public plan will cost 20% less, so people will ditch private insurance and go public. Since the gov already funds half our healthcare, by 2020 or so it'll make up 75% of healthcare billing, making true single payer easier to establish. And that is why private insurers and republicans oppose it. They know the private insurers can't compete with a well run public plan and it'll eventually take everything over. Fine by me.

Commonwealth fund is the group that designed (from what I know) the idea behind Obama's plan. Here is the report the Obama plan will largely be based on.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2009/Feb/The-Path-to-a-High-Performance-US-Health-System.aspx

[Mnemosyne]

1. KnR for greater visibility and more analysis. n/t

[Faryn Balyncd]

2. K & R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . .

This is the way forward.

Howard Dean gets it.

But the Zeke Emanuel plan (Zeke, Rahm's brother, has been hired as a "White House adviser") would destroy it: Under his proposal younger Americans would NOT be given the option of joining Medicare (or any other public option). It fact, neither would future RETIREES, who would be forced to purchase private insurance options only. Medicare would be PRIVATIZED, and with Medicare's death, all hope of future universal public Single Payer health care.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5197440&mesg_id=5197440

[Juche]

3. The reason public is ~20% cheaper is because it is more efficient

Telling people they are only allowed to pick from more expensive private plans is absurd. That would cost trillions over the next decade in higher premiums.