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Friday, June 26, 2009

Health Cantwell vs. Cantwell vs. Cantwell

Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 4:17 PM

On Monday, Sen. Maria Cantwell told KUOW that the public option for health care reform is not something she's pushing, and that she prefers the coop compromise. Why doesn't Cantwell like the public option? Here's what she told KUOW:

I don't think that's something we can get through the United States Senate.

On Wednesday, Cantwell told the Tri-City Herald that she favors a public option.

And today, a Cantwell constituent who wrote the Senator to lobby for the public option received a reply from Cantwell, via e-mail, that included the following:

I am also working closely with my colleagues on the Finance Committee to develop a public option that will benefit Washington State residents. I believe an effective public option could help improve access to high quality care, while bringing down costs through expanded choice and competition in the health care industry.

Got that? Cantwell likes the coop compromise and doesn't think the public option can pass in the Senate and so isn't supporting the public option, except when she sometimes is.

Next week, Cantwell will kick off a series of six events all over Washington State to discuss health care reform. Maybe she can clarify her actual stance on the public option at one of them.

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I got that same response this morning, and thought, oh dear she's moving! How nice. Let's keep her moving!

Posted by meowmeowkitty on June 26, 2009 at 4:34 PM

Yes, I received that response as well. Maybe it helped that I wrote that she was ineffectual as a Senator and she made me seriously question why I voted for her. (okay and I also told her she is out of touch with the voters...)

Posted by au_gout on June 26, 2009 at 5:21 PM

Well, I filled out Cantwell's message form yesterday expressing in no uncertain terms my dismay at her distancing herself from the public option. So she's heard us.

The question now is whether she's going to get behind a real public option or just some fake compromise public option. How can you tell? I'm just a citizen, not a health care industry analyst, but it seems to me there's only one entity that has the leverage to make the public option real, and that's the federal government. Not the states, not some makeshift cooperatives. Only the federal government has the bargaining power to restrain costs and change the messed-up incentives in our health care system.

Even so, I'm looking for the kind of competition that will keep the health insurance companies honest, not drive them out of business. Surely, there's a practical way--and the political will right now--to create a real public option without resorting to single payer.

Posted by cressona on June 26, 2009 at 5:23 PM

i called her office yesterday, and was told that she supports the public option. the person answering the phone agreed that her responses have been vague up to that point, but that "she does support the public option"...

Posted by supporter on June 26, 2009 at 5:26 PM

She had better support a public option or face a primary fight. This two step betrays something else. Could she be listening to the insurance industry? The one's who will face serious competition? The kind of competition they should have faced all along while they've been skinning families with sick loved ones alive? Get behind our president, Maria!

Posted by Vince on June 26, 2009 at 5:45 PM

Blue Cross/Blue Shield in WA is $200 per month for an individual.

For a poor person it's subsidized at $33 per month.

We have state "health care" already.

Why the fuss?!

Posted by I Got That on June 26, 2009 at 8:15 PM

glad she specified to kuow which country's senate it couldn't get through

Posted by Fred Couples on June 27, 2009 at 4:04 PM