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What Sort Of Public Plan?
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
by Patrick Appel Richard Thaler thinks the debate over the public plan should be over the details, not the concept: [H]ere’s some free advice to members of Congress: While you are
enjoying your August recess and town hall meetings, instead of arguing
about whether to have a public option, argue about the ground rules. To
the Republicans, I say this: If you can get real assurances that the
public option has to break even, and that it will get no special deals
from suppliers, let the Democrats have it but ask for ...
Is It Too Late To Rescue Health Insurance Reform From The Corporate Shills In Washington?
DownWithTyranny! —
... any health care legislation that doesn't include a robust public option now being bad-mouthed by Emanuel's team inside and outside the administration. 18 members have also signed onto the FDL pledge to only support a bill that includes a public option and the members. These are the heroes of American families who refuse to be cowed by corporate America or by the political hacks who enable corporate America (phone numbers are included so you can call and say thanks; they deserve a thanks): ...
Richard Thaler Undersells the Public Option
The Reality-Based Community —
... , is still must-reading. So when he says something about the controversy over the public option in the New York Times, I take notice. In terms of the quality of the piece, there is some good stuff, but mostly bad. First, the good stuff. Thaler, citing Victor Fuchs, makes an important point that has been lost in the debate: the public option does not figure to reduce administrative costs in the same way that Medicare has because the public option will not cover everyone (as Medicare does). Thus, in some sense it will have to market itself like other insurers, which increases ...
More on the Public Option
Southern Appeal —
A propos of my post last week on single payer and the public option, here is University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler making a similar point : Here is a thought experiment: Can you think of a domain where a government-run business competes successfully with private-sector companies? In a town hall meeting last week, President Obama mentioned one such example: the market for overnight shipments. This market now has two main private suppliers, FedEx and UPS, and one public one, the United States Postal Service. When you have to send something overnight, which one do you use? Most shippers choose one of the private companies. (Indeed, even the idea ...
The Short, Happy Life of the Public Option
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
... by Time's Karen Tumulty and this NYT column from Richard Thaler do a good job of laying out the big differences.) The second is that the public option is only a means to an end -- reducing costs and expanding coverage -- and there's little that is unique about a PO's ability to do either of these things. If liberals are picking between, say, a strong individual mandate with generous and well-targeted subsidies, and a public option vitiated by the long August recess, there's absolutely no shame in going with former. Not that anyone's offering that choice, of course. ...
