it doesn't matter. nothing will pass. healthcare is dead for six generations. i loved obama like a brother and now I hate him like my bitterest enemy. if only you had listened to me everything would be just fine now. did I mention everything sucks?

Obamacare is in its death throes, no matter how much in denial liberals are. Democracy has triumphed.

What's more, a Politico item noted this morning, "There is one idea that supporters hope could rally the centrists: Call it the nonpublic 'public option.' It's an idea from Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) for a national insurance program that is neither run nor financed by the government. (emphasis mine)

So who will finance this "non-public 'public option'"? I thought the Supply-side Fairy only worked for the Republicans.

Maybe the Underpants Gnomes?

What is that Politco piece this morning on "7 stories Obama doesn't want told". Yikes...this just plain tabloid journalism. Must be someone had nothing to do over the Holiday weekend and apparently didn't like his turkey and dressing. I always read Politico with a somewhat jaundiced eye, but this article is worthy of the Enquirer.

Anyone read the Booman Tribune today, apparently the Family is funneling tons of cash into Uganda to finance the extermination of gays.

The conservatives keep saying that healthcare reform is dead but here it at this stage. Keep on dreaming.

So who will finance this "non-public 'public option'"?

I expect it could be funded by payments from the people using it.

But who would run it? If it's simply run by an private company then what would be the point?

Like Amtrak or the USPS, eh? Whoopee. Still, it's better to crack that door open and plan on reforms down the road than not to get a bill passed at all.

Snowe's "trigger"

Well I guess there's not going to be a public option, but there's not going to be a Senator Snowe anymore either. After pissing off both parties, she will lose her primary next year whether she runs as a Republican or as a Dem. I will not miss her.

Call it the nonpublic 'public option.' It's an idea from Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) for a national insurance program that is neither run nor financed by the government.

Wait, wait -- am I missing something? The public option is supposed to be financed by member premiums like any other insurance company. I've been looking for the wrinkle in how it's "run" so that Blanche Lincoln and Mary Landrieu et al can say, Aha! It's not "government-run," so now I can support it! But how was it ever supposed to be "run" if not like this?

Maybe I'm admitting my own cluelessness, but the Carper proposal sounds like what I've understood the public option to _be_.

(And I've been a bit chagrined by it because it seems needlessly inefficient, but we have stupid politics and can't jump right to better solutions.)

@micheline

I thought it was the so-called progressives who "keep saying that healthcare reform is dead".

See #1 comment above.

There are no more compromises to be had on the Public Option. We've compromised enough. If Conservatives aren't willing to compromise, and moderates aren't going to have our back on this, then it's clear that Democrats just don't want us to be part of their party and we will act accordingly.

Yeah Converse, how dare the largest faction of the party be pissed that Obama has spent his entire term playing sock-puppet to Golman Sachs instead of actually doing it's job.

I'm sure you pissing in our faces is REALLY likely to get us to vote for you.

I'm sure you pissing in our faces is REALLY likely to get us to vote for you.

Nothing is likely to get you to stop being a self centered screeching brat in every single post, and everyone needs to pee sometimes, so heads up, crybaby. You'll get less piss in your piehole if you close it for five minutes.

I haven't read Carper's proposal, but it sounds like a national co-op. That may be the one way a co-op could work.

They just want to ensure that the evil gubmint keeps it's hands off of the option.

A national co-op would be good, but only if anyone was allowed to join. For sure it would be big enough to create competitive pressure against the smaller pools in the states and if it is well regulated, it could be a good option for consumers. But I doubt that such a plan would satisfy centrists anymore than the government run public option. Because the real issue for them is not that it is government control but rather that they prefer not to have any real competition for the insurance industry. To the extent that any option does that they will be against it. So really Carper is wasting his time.

'I always read Politico with a somewhat jaundiced eye, but this article is worthy of the Enquirer.' DTR
Seen Huffpo lately? A VERY low info site.

Because the real issue for them is not that it is government control but rather that they prefer not to have any real competition for the insurance industry.

Hmm. Good point. But it seems like people like Lincoln and Nelson and Landrieu should be vulnerable to shame (Lieberman has none, so that won't work) -- they've been saying The Problem is government overreach, and that phrase "government-run" is one of their favorites: they don't support the plan because it'd be "government-run." So find out a way to let them say that it isn't "government-run" and they can save face with their voters. But you're right that it doesn't mean squat to insurance company chieftains.

A national co-op would be good, but only if anyone was allowed to join. For sure it would be big enough to create competitive pressure against the smaller pools in the states and if it is well regulated, it could be a good option for consumers.

I agree. It is theoretically possible to craft an independently chartered and operated national non-profit health insurance program that is actually *better* than the public option currently on the table in the Senate, because removing the dread "government control" from the public option could be bartered in exchange for allowing a larger slice of the public to buy in.

Unless we're going to get rates linked to Medicare, it doesn't especially matter whether the public option is controlled by the government. What matters is that it's a tightly regulated non-profit option with nationwide negotiating power.

But this compromise would require the "centrists" to be arguing in good faith against government control, rather than shilling to protect the insurance industry from competition... so don't hold your breath.