A health care compromise that would establish a national public option for insurance coverage that individual states could opt out of, is being "very seriously considered" by Senate Democrats, a key Democratic lawmakers said on Thursday.Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC that he and his colleagues have discussed the "opt-out" public option compromise as a way to get a bill past a Republican filibuster. The proposal is designed to get the support of progressive members of the Democratic Caucus -- who are committed to a government-run insurance option -- and conservative Democrats who are worried about what a public plan would have on the private markets in their states.
This all assumes the public option is big enough to do the job it's designed to do and actually drive down costs. Of course, if you're of a progressive mind and live in a red state then
this idea would leave you high and dry. But the Schadenfreude in me
says too bad. Sorry.
Look at it this way: if the public option works as well as liberals think it will, then eventually conservative states will get around to opting into the public plan. Meanwhile, the rest of the country doesn't have to be dragged down by the self-inflicted stupidity of what is now a vocal but rather small minority terrified of cheaper health care insurance. There's also the added bonus of beating Republicans over the head with the public option during red state elections. Picture a moderate Democrat in Alabama raising money and making the opt-in a big part of his platform in a major state-wide race. Winning at the ballot box would do more to advance liberalism than a swift federal mandate.
Hell, I might like this idea enough to advocate for an opt-out clause in every major federal program. What liberal isn't sick of hearing Republicans bitch about the excesses of federal spending while red states gladly accept a disproportionate number of dollars for Medicare, Social Security, public education, unemployment. The list goes on and on. I'm all for these morons putting their federally subsidized tax dollars where their mouths are and letting them slide into a third world abyss.
