• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

White House appears ready to drop 'public option'

Renae

Banned
Suspended
DP Veteran
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
50,241
Reaction score
19,243
Location
San Antonio Texas
Gender
Female
Political Leaning
Conservative
WASHINGTON – Apparently ready to abandon the idea, President Barack Obama's health secretary said Sunday a government alternative to private health insurance is "not the essential element" of the administration's health care overhaul.
The White House indicated it could jettison the contentious public option and settle on insurance cooperatives as an acceptable alternative, a move embraced by some Republicans lawmakers who have strongly opposed the administration's approach so far.
Officials from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind when they returned to their districts for an August recess. Obama has been pressing for the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the White House would be open to co-ops instead of a government-run public option, a sign Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory on the must-win showdown.
"I think there will be a competitor to private insurers," she said. "That's really the essential part, is you don't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. We need some choices, we need some competition."
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said co-ops might be a politically acceptable alternative as "a step away from the government takeover of the health care system" that the GOP has assailed.
White House appears ready to drop 'public option' - Yahoo! News


If these healthcare terrorist attacking town halls are nothing more then fringe insurance lobbyist that mean nothing, why are Obama and the Dems backing down?
 
This is ridiculous.

If they go ahead with this, they are ignoring people and acting like they can do what they wish.
If Dems then revise their options in the face of a public backlash or dissatisfaction with what is being offered and seek to find a common ground. The Republicans and protestors were right. This move should be welcomed by those who opposed him previously.

In my view, this makes Obama even more likeable if he is willing to back down and change his stance. That is a quality found very rarely amongst politicans.
 
This is ridiculous.

If they go ahead with this, they are ignoring people and acting like they can do what they wish.
If Dems then revise their options in the face of a public backlash or dissatisfaction with what is being offered and seek to find a common ground. The Republicans and protestors were right. This move should be welcomed by those who opposed him previously.

In my view, this makes Obama even more likeable if he is willing to back down and change his stance. That is a quality found very rarely amongst politicans.

For some reason the "Thanks" button is not showing up on my computer.

Here is a post "Thanks"! I agree with you. :)
 
1. Wow, Sebelius has been the president's point girl on the topic

2. She and Specter got ripped to pieces by a hyped up pack in Philly 2 weeks ago

3. How do you spell S-U-R-R-E-N-D-E-R?

4. That's an awfully white flag they're waving, no?

5. CENTERPIECE of Obamite ambition, the PUBLIC OPTION

6. Bye bye, moment of silence

7. That's long enough

8. Palin kicked his bony butt on "death panels"

9. Took her about a week

10. She did it on FACEBOOK

11. LOL!

12. Public option he killed all by his incompetent self

13. Obamacare STILL faces HUGE problems

14. And its Salesman in Chief is woefully weakened

15. Obamacare still FINES individuals, still CUTS MEDICARE AND MEDICAID, still covers ILLEGALS, still changes public funding of ABORTION, still bends the COST CURVE the wrong way, still taxes BENEFITS (the McCain plan), still looks to END OF LIFE COSTS for scary savings...

16. All the above has been plainly predictable to the prescient, what's coming next is frankly foreseeable, as well

17. Conrad is key contributor on Baucus' GATEWAY Cmte, Senate Finance, one of the Ubiquitous Six, the senator who on July 16 got CBO/Elmendorf to testify to the steepening trajectory of the COST CURVE, which arithmetic kicked out the prop underscoring Obama's most basic premises concerning the issue

18. Liberal groups associated with DNC Chair Howard Dean have targeted Conrad and other centrists with ATTACK ADS

19. The LEFT is gonna go ballistic, they've really been STRUNG ALONG

20. And a lot of CENTRISTS have really stretched out their necks for this White House, which now pulls back ITS head

21. Most INEPT pol at the national level America has ever seen

My Way News - Sebelius: Public insurance option not essential

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's health secretary is suggesting the White House is ready to accept nonprofit insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run public option in a health overhaul plan.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says Obama still believes there should be choice and competition" in the health insurance market - but that a public option is "not the essential element."

Obama has been pressing for the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured. But he had not seen a not-for-profit co-op as sufficient to offer consumers choice and competition that would bring down the costs of private insurance.

Sebelius spoke on CNN's "State of the Union."

Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota has been pushing the co-op system as an alternative to a government-run public option to help cover the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured. Conrad says it's an idea that has worked well in other business models.
 
Last edited:
This is ridiculous.

If they go ahead with this, they are ignoring people and acting like they can do what they wish.
If Dems then revise their options in the face of a public backlash or dissatisfaction with what is being offered and seek to find a common ground. The Republicans and protestors were right. This move should be welcomed by those who opposed him previously.

In my view, this makes Obama even more likeable if he is willing to back down and change his stance. That is a quality found very rarely amongst politicans.

That's fine and I don't disagree with you except that...

Obama Uses Op-Ed to Criticize Health Insurance Industry - Political News - FOXNews.com

President Obama took aim at the health insurance industry Sunday, using an op-ed to accuse the insurance companies of discriminating against millions and rally support for a comprehensive reform package to hold them "accountable."

The op-ed in The New York Times escalated an approach the White House and congressional Democrats have taken in recent weeks, in which they've focused more on Americans who have insurance, rather than the staggering number of uninsured. In doing so, health care reform proponents have cited a litany of examples of how Americans’ health insurance plans are falling short.

Though health care reform critics have flooded town halls over the past month, Obama wrote in his column that media have focused too much on the "loudest voices" -- he suggested that those with inadequate insurance policies are clamoring for reform.

"What we haven't heard are the voices of the millions upon millions of Americans who quietly struggle every day with a system that often works better for the health-insurance companies than it does for them," Obama wrote.

The president cited a "2007 national survey" which he said showed insurance companies "discriminated" against more than 12 million Americans over three years because of pre-existing conditions.

"Almost everyone knows that we must start holding insurance companies accountable and give Americans a greater sense of stability and security when it comes to their health care," he wrote.

Obama wrote that he's confident health care reform will pass.

He wrote an Op-Ed TODAY saying the protesters basically were a minority of the opinion and really shouldn't.. well count.

So your assessment would have merit if he and the dems hadn't been spending so much time saying the protesters were of no real matter.
 
This is good news. This doesn't mean we put our guard down, though. They may still try and stick something in the final bill under the radar.
 
absolutely correct

watch---GRASSLEY, ENZI AND SNOWE
 
This is ridiculous.

If they go ahead with this, they are ignoring people and acting like they can do what they wish.
If Dems then revise their options in the face of a public backlash or dissatisfaction with what is being offered and seek to find a common ground. The Republicans and protestors were right. This move should be welcomed by those who opposed him previously.

In my view, this makes Obama even more likeable if he is willing to back down and change his stance. That is a quality found very rarely amongst politicans.

actually this means Obama lacks the courage of his convictions and has FAILED with his first major overhaul/transformation of the American landscape.
 
actually this means Obama lacks the courage of his convictions and has FAILED with his first major overhaul/transformation of the American landscape.

This is when the hyper partisan people come crawling from under the rock.

It seems they care more about political point scoring than what is good for the country.
A president who can compromise and admit when he is wrong is better than one who doggedly sticks to his view and doesn't give others a look in.
 
This is when the hyper partisan people come crawling from under the rock.

It seems they care more about political point scoring than what is good for the country.
A president who can compromise and admit when he is wrong is better than one who doggedly sticks to his view and doesn't give others a look in.


That's fine and dandy, and no one is arguing that, however, he spent a lot of effort trying to marginalize the protesters as being wrong, yet here he is backing away from what he wanted.

Which means...

What? What do you say about a President that did faked townhalls stacked with supporters and loaded questions, that spent a lot of political capital trying to claim that those against the reform are wrong... who suddenly is ready to take a major provision (and one that was at the heart of the protest against his reform) off the table?

You can claim that we're just being hyper partisans, and that's fine, I wouldn't expect otherwise, but in your heart you know that means the President was wrong in saying that the protesters were a fringe group, that the protests were just paid agitators of the insurance cabal, that his agenda has been defeated.

THAT is good for the country.
 
the president is not compromising

he's in full fast retreat cuz he got his ass kicked

he surrendered on end of life counseling thursday

and, tho it's been known for months, his own white house formally conceded public option, his CENTERPIECE, today

(durbin signaled it a week ago)

(baucus many times in the last 2 months)

(bluedogs rather unambiguously)

(kent conrad with every word)

(ms mccaskill in hillsboro)

(mr daschle in the middle of june)

blah blah blah

the point---the prez is pulling back on all fronts

outta necessity

my reason for posting---on fns (fox news sunday) kent conrad (a HUGE player in all this, baucus' deputy, accurately put) indicated another major presidential retreat

on the friday before the senate went on recess, baucus (obviously pressured by the white house) announced a deadline date, sept 15---if the Ubiquitous Six could not reach agreement by 9-15, the gatekeeper said, then dems would be forced to go the schumer route---cram this thing thru on parliamentary procedure (contingency), bypassing filibuster and requiring only 51 votes

schumer was pure bluff, contingency strips legislation of authority, has to be re-upped periodically and denudes law of legitimacy as it's perceived politically as bully tactics

the news---conrad today, when pressed by fox's chris wallace (son of 60 minutes mike) about timelines, completely backed down

what about the sept 15, deadline, pressed mike's boy

we'll be ready when we're ready, answered conrad, it's more important to get this right than fast

another nod to reality

did the brits "compromise" at dunkirk?

LOL!
 
Link

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer
38 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Bowing to Republican pressure and an uneasy public, President Barack Obama's administration signaled Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system.

Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession probably would enrage Obama's liberal supporters but could deliver a much-needed victory on a top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.
Officials from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind when they returned to their districts for an August recess. Obama had wanted the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured, but didn't include it as one of his core principles of reform.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that government alternative to private health insurance is "not the essential element" of the administration's health care overhaul. The White House would be open to co-ops, she said, a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory.

Praise God!!! I hope these guys understand you can't take liberty from the public.

 
Thread already exists American :2wave:
 
Last edited:
Ohh I know, but I think a small victory dance is in order.
If for nothing else but to raise moral of the "troops" even further.

See, that's what I like about Republicans: they know when they're at war. If Democrats had that same understanding health care reform would have passed months ago.

Well, okay, that's not true because so many democrats were in the pockets of Big Health anyway, but a guy can fantasize.
 
See, that's what I like about Republicans: they know when they're at war. If Democrats had that same understanding health care reform would have passed months ago.

Well, okay, that's not true because so many democrats were in the pockets of Big Health anyway, but a guy can fantasize.

Republican me? Not in the slightest, I just happen to have the same general belief on this issue as they do.
 
See, that's what I like about Republicans: they know when they're at war.

The party out of power tends to be clearer about such things.
 
That's fine and I don't disagree with you except that...



He wrote an Op-Ed TODAY saying the protesters basically were a minority of the opinion and really shouldn't.. well count.

So your assessment would have merit if he and the dems hadn't been spending so much time saying the protesters were of no real matter.
Obama is a lying bitch; if opinion against him was a minority he wouldn't be backing down. His supporters are the minority.
 
This gives me hope for the American people. It proves that some of us still have what passes for a spine and will not go quietly into the night of socialism.
 
Back
Top Bottom