The "Opt in" option sounds good for "liberty", but actually think about the population who are going to "Opt in" - the poorest and the sickest. How is the government going to compete with private health insurance, as a payer, when they are servicing all the cast off sick people that were driving up the costs of private health insurance in the first place?! The math doesn't add up, RJ. Socialized health care requires healthy working people pay taxes to cover sick people. Are you talking about those same healthy working people.paying their premiums AND paying the tax increase to cover the public option?
It has worked for Medicare which covers the oldest and sickest people in our society.
Whether you call it "taxes" or premiums", it's the same money. The poorest don't pay anyway.
I only pay $145/month for my Medicare and like millions of other seniors and am able to cover my copays and RX (luckily I have none) for nothing. I realize, I have paid into it over the years, but it's not all that much. Poor people on Medicare don't pay anything.
Additionally, by having tens of millions of young, healthy people in the pool, the cost per person will be dramatically lower. Think of it this way, a person works for a small restaurant, right now IF they are covered, their premiums are based on a pool of 5-15. This way the people are in a pool of 150,000,000 or more.
On top of that, you cut 30% for the middleman fees paid to private insurers.
People will go to the public option and drive the private companies into providing supplemental and elective services as they do throughout Europe. If you try to pass M4A on its own, you will scare the shit out of enough people that it won't happen. However, if you say there is a 100% public option, you will get there without them even realizing it's happening.
I am pissed right now. A new bbq place opened two weekends ago and I wanted some of their ribs, but they are only doing a soft opening on Saturdays through July. I could almost taste those ribs.