Still Not Convinced the Public Option is a Trojan Horse for Single-Payer?
Posted August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am in Health Care 
Print This Post
According to Gallup, while Americans favor some government involvement in health care, they do not want a government-run health care system. The left knows this. They understand that Americans would never sign on to health care reform that created a “single-payer” system where the government would run the entire health care sector. So instead, the left is trying to sell a government-run health insurance “option” (the “public option”) that they say would “compete” with private health insurance. But “competition” is not their goal. The “public option” would only serve as a Trojan Horse that the left could then turn into a single-payer health care system over a number of years by slowly forcing private health care managers out of existence. Don’t believe us? Then watch Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) admit as much earlier this year:
Schakowsky tells her Health Care for America Now audience: “And next to me was a guy from the insurance company who argued against the public health insurance option, saying it wouldn’t let private insurance compete. That a public option will put the private insurance industry out of business and lead to single-payer. My single-payer friends, he was right. The man was right.”
Still don’t believe us? Then watch Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) admit as much just last week:
Frank tells a member of Single Payer Action: “I think that if we get a good public option it could lead to single-payer and that is the best way to reach single-payer. Saying you’ll do nothing till you get single-payer is a sure way never to get it. … I think the best way we’re going to get single-payer, the only way, is to have a public option and demonstrate the strength of its power.”
Still don’t believe us? Then watch Washington Post reporter Ezra Klein admit as much at Netroots Nation last year:
Klein tells his netroots audience: “They have a sneaky strategy, the point of which is to put in place something that over time the natural incentives within its own market will move it to single-payer.”
Still don’t believe us? Then watch Paul Krugman admit as much at a forum in New Jersey earlier this year:
Krugmans tells his audience: “[T]he only reason not to do [single-payer] is that politically it’s hard to do in one step…You’d have to convince people to completely give up the insurance they have, whereas something that lets people keep the insurance they have but then offers the option of a public plan, that may evolve into single-payer, but you can do it politically…”
All of these Obama allies support a “public option” because they believe it will eventually lead to a single-payer system. Conservatives are against the “public option” because, like everybody quoted above, we also believe that a “public option” will inevitably lead to single-payer health care. There is one person, however, who vehemently disagrees with everyone quoted above about the effect a public option would have on private health care. President Barack Obama told the AMA June 15th:
What are not legitimate concerns are those being put forward claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system. … So, when you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about government-run health care, know this – they are not telling the truth.
But does President Obama even believe his own words here? Watch this video and decide for yourself:
Author: 
11 Responses to “Still Not Convinced the Public Option is a Trojan Horse for Single-Payer?”
Joshua W. Delano on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
these Administration officials are going to have to stop passing off these sound byte answers to the American people on their national b.s. tour…they are getting booed nearly everywhere they go. People are angry and they want real answers..not manufactured statistics and figures meant to decieve. Oh well, God bless America…I’m depending on God, cause we can’t depend on government for anything.
Soigne Toi,
Joshua W. Delano
Bayou Perspective – http://www.BayouPerspective.Blogspot.com
Dean Blankenship- Jacksonville, Fl on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
Deception and deceit is something we detest in friends and something we ourselves do not practice. The very people we send as representatives of our BEST interest fail the test of integrity. Outcomes would be different if those who make the laws had a mandatory requirements to accept and abide by the same law.
Truthfully, many people with whom I associate, and they’re pretty good golfers, feel they can’t get a fair hearing from Congress. There is a lot of hope that the next election can send another message of change, a change that sends a message that the Government is declared to be one: “Of The People, By the People, and For the People.”
Tim McHugh, Los Angeles on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
I thought that the public option, with subsidies for the insurance companies, was a terrible idea. Why reward the cause of the problem?
If these clips suggest that there will be a concerted effort to get a real single payer system in place, that’s the best news I’ve heard in years.
I currently have private insurance and would drop it in a heartbeat.
You can read HR676 online. It’s all of 27, double-spaced, wide-margin pages long. And not an ounce of pork to be found.
Lynn Beale Valencia Ca on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
The first rule of being a technocrat is control. Control of issue, policy, process and ultimately the control of individuals. Underlying their methods is a sincere belief they are better at doing for you then you are capable of doing for yourself. A central organizing principle must be placed over society.
The second rule of technocrat behavior is to achieve stasis as soon as possible for the topic they control.
They find the dynamic of uncontrolled change frightening. Free will to make changes without a corollary to a central plan cannot be allowed. Acceptance of their program by targeted subjects is immaterial. Negative feedback often serving as confirmation for the technocrats core belief he is correct in his control.
Janis Coldiron on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
Of course it’s a Trojan Horse. Otherwise you would have to believe that all these well educated elected representatives are unable to understand that the proposed health care plan is tantamount to throwing out the baby with the bath water. We already have the best health care in the world! Sure, we can improve it and get rid of inefficency… and we should. But, lets start with tort reform and move on form there. Tort reform has worked pretty well in Texas which would explain why so many doctors are moving there to practice and leaving places like New York.
Paul, Kentucky on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
The public option must go forward. I’d much rather have the government “between” me and my doctor than the insurance company. Why? Because I don’t get to elect my insurance company’s executives.
William, Texas on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
There is something substantive missing in this heated debate – other than a lack of civility and intellectual discourse. Ask yourself, “why has the cost healthcare increased so much over the past two decades?” Simple – the healthcare insurance industry. It’s driven by profit and greed like all other so-called free market enterprise business models that operate through tax subsidies. One can’t blame the government in this case. If people want to yell and scream like five year olds over the issue then point the finger at the true culprit.
Mike in Henniker, NH on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
Ezra Klein says that 80-90% of people are happy with what then have for health care…is he implying that all those people who have nothing are happy with that? What many are missing is that this is a debate over the haves and have nots. Some Americans have no health care…how do we as a civil society cover everyone to a basic degree? What I am hearing is that the Republicans and the anti-public option people would rather those people without health care access go away and not bother the people who have health care.
Bamboo Sheets on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
Are you using a custom wordpress theme? It looks awesome!
Patrick,Ca on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
Ezra has a response:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/09/senator_grassley_quotes_me_on.html
In short: Out of context quote roundup.
In long: If the public option will be worse than private insurance then you should not be afraid to try to see if it fails. If it does fail, the conservative position will be proven conclusively, if it doesn’t fail, we all get better health insurance.
Win-Win.
Dave Bean on August 3rd, 2009 at 11:44am said:
If only the public option was really public (available to more than 2% of the population) and an option to people with existing group insurance. Someday, after we have given up on for-profit health insurance, we may have a single-payer approach.
For-profit health insurance does lead to new and innovative approaches – new and innovative ways to exclude bad risks and deny benefits.
Medicare has worked for decades and is well liked – why not Medicare For All ?