about his misrepresentation of the public option.

It is not the single payer system that people were advocating for at the time, Dean knew that, and it is not like Medicare. It must compete with private companies and the government will subsidize the purchase of private insurance...that is not how Medicare began.

Dean has had multiple appearances on TV telling people the public option is like Medicare or like single payer and promoting Obama's plan and the proposed legislation as something it is not, THAT is what Dr. Himmelstein from PNHP has found disturbing.

I've posted this to you several times, yet you continue to ignore what took place and attack the single payer group in various threads.

If Dean wants to get behind Obama's plan and the current legislation that is fine, but be honest about the proposed bills, instead of selling it as something it is not.


http://journals.democraticunderground.com/...

Link - Howard Dean on the Ed Show and more...
Posted by slipslidingaway in General Discussion: Presidential
Mon Aug 24th 2009, 12:22 PM

Posted in the thread below back in June, but some people continue to distort the views of PNHP.

Interview on the Ed Show was during the time that SP advocates were trying to get a seat at the Senate round tables - Baucus had excluded them from participating. Ed asked Dean what he thought about SP being off the table, Dean said SP is Not off the table. Dean knows what the physicians were advocating for when they talk about SP, Medicare for All.

Why would he confuse the issue and lead people to believe that the public option is the same as SP or just like SP???

In addition he keeps referring to the public option as being like Medicare, but Medicare does not have to compete for the basic coverage with private insurance plans and started with millions of people in the plan which could then bargain for lower prices....



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/...

Medicare was open to everyone 65 and older, the government did not...
Posted by slipslidingaway in General Discussion
Thu Oct 22nd 2009, 03:51 PM

...give subsidies to people over 65 to purchase private insurance, therefore knocking out the competition.

Medicare had a ready pool of subscribers which allowed them to negotiate prices with providers, the public option has no such ready pool as people can chose to purchase from a private insurance company.

Over 90% of seniors were enrolled in Medicare by the end of the FIRST year.

Obama says that just over 3%, according to the CBO estimate he quoted, would be enrolled in a public option by 2019.

The basic benefits were automatically available to everyone over 65 and financed by an increased payroll tax.

It did not have to be self-financed in contrast with the current public option bills....