Todd: Obama Not Willing To Scrap Public Option

This is based on nothing more that Todd's only (sometimes accurate, sometime not) imagination.

That said, I think the "trigger option" is not a good compromise and I seriously doubt it would "bring in the left flank".

This is the reality of the Senate. As long as NY and ND have the same clout, we'll need to find "middle ground" with our own party.

I don't want to primary Conrad or Nelson or anyone else that is reasonable. Primarying Lieberman was fully worth it because of his ridiculous pro-war views and his general interest in GOP politics. Nelson and Nelson and Conrad and the gang are not the so out of Democratic mainstream. We're not the GOP. We are a big party with differing views.

"he was elected to change republican rule and was given a congress to do it with."

I am so tired of hearing this nonsensical line. He was given no such thing. Wake up and smell the coffee.

If he had really been given the congress to do this, they would have done it two months ago. What he was given was a Democratic party that is really two parties, since it now incorporates all of the centrists and moderate conservatives who would have been Republicans ten or twenty years ago. This is the reality he is trying to deal with.

It's truly sickening to see the left setting itself up to turn power back over to the right by embracing this "Obama betrayed us" meme.

If these so-called "centrist" Democrats are really reasonable, then they are subject to the same pressure they exert on the rest of the Dem caucus. If the progressive senators band together, show some guts, and tell the blue dogs that they won't vote for a bill without robust competition now, then reasonable, outnumbered blue dogs will seek find some face-saving solution for themselves. (Of course, it would help if the progressive Democrats had some leaders.)

But these senators are not reasonable. They just want to get re-elected. They don't give a shit about the health mess that people are in.

The blue dogs are the tail of this party, steady while the rest of the party waggles this way and that.

Oh, and when Chuck Todd ventures beyond obvious arithmetic, he's embodying the Peter Principle.

So it appears that some of the people here would rather have it all or nothing.

There must be something constructive that can be passed that doesn't include the public option.

1. End insurance company abuses, like preconditions and denial of insurance. But that will necessarily premiums not lower them. And the insurance companies oppose this without a mandate.

2. Mandate rational care (sometimes called rationing) where unnecessary medical procedures don't get reimbursed. Doctors and hospitals won't like the income hit and Republicans will never vote for this without malpractice insurance capping. This is where savings must ultimately come from.

3. The US pays for the training (that is, residency and internship) for every single physician in this country. About $100,000 per resident per year goes to teaching hospitals and some of that money pays the residents' salaries. There's also an associated board that decides how many residencies of each kind each teaching hospital is allowed each year. Change the formulas to drastically reduce the number of specialist positions in favor of family physicans. Medical students won't like this.

4. Move to a no fault medical injury system, where minor problems will result in less compensation and major problems (like blindness) will result in more. Tie that to a rigorous process to penalize physicians who make too many "mistakes." The whole ethos of physicians not reporting others' mistakes has to be overcome here.

5. Ban prescription drug advertising.

6. Mandate a single set of insurance policies for all insurance companies, policies that are clear and easy to compare.

7. Mandate a single electronic process to submit all claims, freeing up physicians to spend more time on their practice.

8. Regulate insurance companies closer, wherein the companies have to justify denials and not the other way around.

9. Don't pay for poor medical practices, like surgery for back problems or by-pass surgery, unless alternatives have already failed or we have an immediate emergency.

10. Require Medicare to negotiate drug prices with drug companies in the Medicare Part D prescription program. Congress specifically prohibited Medicare from doing so.

Seems to me skilled politicians, like the ones in the White House, can probably count votes in the Senate. If the Obama team thought they could get 51 votes for the public option, why would they be willing to compromise?

Don't forget, the way the Dems got the majority in the Senate is by running a bunch of guys who would probably be Republicans if it wasn't for the crazy right wingers running that party.

What's the old saying? Don't make "perfect" the enemy of "possible"

We're here to pop this trial balloon.