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   From: Gooper@Bushies.net   
      
   Pelosi: The House Won't 'Force American Families To Negotiate With Insurance   
   Companies'   
      
   Source: TPM   
      
   Speaking at her weekly press conference just off the House floor moments   
   ago, Speaker Nancy Pelosi made her most impassioned argument in weeks, for   
   including a public option in comprehensive health care reform legislation,   
   arguing against the idea, favored by some conservative Democrats, of   
   mandating that people buy health insurance, and then throwing them into what   
   she called the "lion's den" of the private insurance industry.   
      
   In so doing, Pelosi came closer than any member of the Democratic leadership   
   has thusfar to suggesting that the individual mandate should be conditional   
   on the inclusion of a public option. Pelosi declined to elaborate when   
   pressed by TPMDC on whether Congress would revisit the individual mandate if   
   the public option can't survive the Senate. But her implication was fairly   
   clear.   
      
   The House, she said, "will not force America's middle income families to   
   negotiate with insurance companies."   
      
   Health care experts agree that health insurance market reforms can not work   
   unless everybody is in the risk pool--and that means a mandate. But   
   privately, many activists and experts believe that a strong individual   
   mandate is also a gift to the insurance industry, and that it should be used   
   as a bargaining chip to secure other robust measures, such as the public   
   option.   
      
   Pelosi declined to comment on the uncertainty about the public option in the   
   Senate, but said her goal was to make sure that the House has as much   
   leverage as possible when House and Senate negotiators meet to iron out   
   differences between the bills.   
      
   "I want to send our conferees to the table with the most muscle for   
   America's middle class," she said.   
      
      
   This is about going into that room and coming out with the best coverage and   
   the lowest cost for America's working families. I believe that that is best   
   achieved by going to the table with the public option. I believe that the   
   arguments are very convincing, public support is there, and, by the way, the   
   dollars. The robust public option that is being considered in the House   
   saves $110 billion. How can you ignore that?   
      
      
   Pelosi said that House health care leaders will make a decision about   
   whether to endorse a Medicare-like public option in "the next few days." In   
   that time, the House will ask the CBO to evaluate the savings potential of   
   three different public option proposals, and make a final determination   
   based on the results.   
      
   Like a number of Democrats in the Senate, Pelosi jumped on the insurance   
   industry's recent anti-reform actions, including a discredited AHIP report   
   the industry propagated to raise unfounded doubts about the impact a health   
   care overhaul will have on insurance premiums.   
      
   "Anyone who had any doubts about the need for such an option need only look   
   at the...health insurance industry this week. They put out a report on   
   health insurance reform--specifically addressed to the Senate bill--which   
   has been totally discredited...and then later in the week, in order to   
   change the subject I guess, they launched a more than $1,000,000 TV ad   
   campaign to falsely tell America's seniors that they would be hurt by what   
   happens to Medicare in the health reform bills."   
      
   Read more:   
   http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/pelosi-comes-out-swin   
   ing-for-the-public-option.php?ref=fpa   
      
   Thank you Speaker Pelosi Make a robust public option NON-negotiable.   
      
         If a bill comes out of the conference committee without a public   
   option, the House should KILL IT and start over.   
         There seems to be a 'spine too' virus going round.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)