About us Login Get email updates
County Fair
Print

New York Times, please define "worried about the cost"

August 18, 2009 11:16 pm ET by Jamison Foser

Wednesday's New York Times article about the possibility of Democrats pursuing health care reform without Republican cooperation contains this passage: 

The Democratic shift may not make producing a final bill much easier. The party must still reconcile the views of moderate and conservative Democrats worried about the cost and scope of the legislation with those of more liberal lawmakers determined to win a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers.

Gee, reading that, you'd never know that Kent Conrad admits his co-op plan wouldn't do much to bring down costs, would you? Or that inclusion of a public plan -- which the conservatives are balking at -- would lower costs?

In fact, nothing in the article so much as hints at either of those things.

Just another way the media gives conservatives credit for wanting to control costs, even as they oppose policies that would actually do it -- and, thus, stack the deck against a public plan.

Expand All Expand 1st Level Collapse All Add Comment
    • Author by phredicles (August 19, 2009 12:34 am ET)
      1 1
      And of course, if the #1 priority were lowering costs, everyone would be hopping on a single-payer bandwagon. But we're just not talking about that.

      Instead, the #1 priority seems to be making sure that the parasitic private insurance companies who've landed us in this crisis can continue making $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ off of us. Just disgraceful.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by The_Cat (August 19, 2009 9:54 am ET)
      1  
      The only 'co-op' that would have a noticeable impact on costs and business practices would be one that every American is enrolled in, becoming de-facto single payer. Short of that, I'm not supporting any version of reform that doesn't have a strong public option, especially since Conrad proposed the co-op while admitting it won't lower costs.
      Report Abuse