Congressman Patrick Murphy, (D- PA 8th) during a tele-town-hall meeting on August 27th, said that having a public option (with no definition as to what that is http://wp.me/pBslf-1O ) wouldn’t lead to government run health care.
Huh. That isn’t the impression I was left with after speaking with a small business owner. He said if there’s a government option, he’ll probably take advantage of it. Why should he go through the rigmarole of dealing with insurance companies when he can just let the government plan provide health care for his employees?
But Murphy says a “desire to do the right thing” and possible tax credits would encourage (and they’d be the only things to encourage) a small business to stay with a private program. The small business owner I spoke with said that probably wouldn’t be enough.
In spite of the insistence of the administration and Congress that people won’t be forced into a public option, the simple fact is that if it’s there, there’s nothing to stop a business from using it.
And then there’s the provision in the bill (p16-17) that seems to say this: if you have insurance at the time the bill becomes law and want to change plans, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that’s not available, you’ll be required to take the government option.
Wow. That should cut small businesses’ health care expenses and encourage competition.
The bill also seems to require any business that self-insures to be “studied for financial solvency and capital reserve levels.” (p. 22.) Isn’t this basically an audit? And wouldn’t any business want to go into the public option to prevent that?
Of course, I can’t say with certainty that I’m reading HR 3200 correctly—the whole thing is impossible to understand (it’s essentially 1,017 pages of gobbledy-gook.)
But apparently Murphy had a much easier time with it. He says it only took him several nights to read all those pages, ( http://tinyurl.com/n3ovoz ) which makes me suspect he skimmed more than digested. If you doubt me, take a look at the bill.
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090714/aahca.pdf
How long would it take you to read—and thoroughly understand—that?
aln
