TPMDC
Weiner On Medicare Buy-In: 'This Is One Idea I Like A Lot'
Rachel Slajda | December 9, 2009, 11:33AM
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
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Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), one of Congress' fiercest supporters of the public option, has come out to support the Medicare buy-in proposal in the Senate Democrats' deal.
"This is one idea I like a lot," Weiner said in an email to the Daily News, calling the idea "remarkable."
Winning the support of Weiner, who has championed not only a public option but a universal single-payer system, could be a sign that the Dems' proposal may yet win over progressives, even without a public option.
The buy-in is a proposal to allow consumers between the ages of 55 and 64 to buy into Medicare.
It's a plan that "would perhaps get us on the path to a single payer model," Weiner said. "In a debate that hasn't focused enough on how to genuinely contain costs and deliver affordable health care, this is one idea I like a lot."
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chimpale
December 9, 2009 11:38 AM
I was anxious to hear his take on it. I think we might have a winner here.
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Indie Pro
December 9, 2009 11:46 AM
hollow, worthless
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oskieoskie
December 9, 2009 11:55 AM
Expanded Medicare is a public option.
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Steaming Pile
December 9, 2009 12:40 PM in reply to oskieoskie
Shhhhhhh! You're not supposed to tell!
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Eric Jaffa
December 9, 2009 12:03 PM
The proposal is garbage if only the uninsured can buy-in.
If they let any individual 55-64 buy-in, and let employers buy-in for their 55-64 employees, then we'd have something.
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Jim H
December 9, 2009 12:04 PM
Great. And in another 30 years they'll lower the eligible Medicare buy-in age to 45? Maybe it'll finally be open for everyone by 2100! Wow, this really makes me feel "fired up and ready to go"!
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The BBQ Chicken Madness
December 9, 2009 12:07 PM
The devil is in the details...
Who can buy in, and what will the premiums look like? Dean qualified his opinion very much on these two items...and he's 100% right.
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Steaming Pile
December 9, 2009 12:42 PM in reply to The BBQ Chicken Madness
Maybe the CBO will tell us. I suspect that, since the beauty of Medicare is drastically lower administrative costs, it would turn out to be a bargain, even at a modest markup.
Leave it to Chuck Schumer to get stuff done.
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Msinformed
December 9, 2009 12:10 PM
The compromise was to come up with something that could be called a "public option" if you like that, or not called a "public option" if you don't like that. Since some of our populace don't consider Medicare as government-run healthcare...bingo! Now, how can the GOP rail against Medicare after they were pledging "to save" it. I guess we will just have to watch, because that's what they're going to do.
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Jim H
December 9, 2009 12:40 PM in reply to Msinformed
Well I like the public option, but I can't call it that since I'm 33. If I can't buy into it, there's no public option as far as I'm concerned. So if that's their strategy, it doesn't satisfy 100% of the people - just 100% of those over 55.
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Cool Blue Reason
December 9, 2009 12:58 PM in reply to Msinformed
They'll claim that they are -- and always have been -- trying to "save Medicare for seniors." And that expansion would endanger it for seniors.
There you go. Only limited mental gymnastics necessary.
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mcjam
December 9, 2009 12:23 PM
Am I missing something, or did they leave out the rest of us ages 1-54? How is this reform?
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Jim H
December 9, 2009 12:44 PM in reply to mcjam
It's not. It's bullshit. And the Dems are going to get creamed in 2010 when the base stays home.
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Steaming Pile
December 9, 2009 12:46 PM in reply to mcjam
1. It removes from the equation a vast number of people who find it particularly hard to insure. As a side benefit, this would give employers one less reason to discriminate against older workers.
2. It opens the door a crack to further reform down the road. To use a football analogy, the ball was run ten yards down the field for a first down (on third and long), then out of bounds to stop the clock. Our side keeps the ball and gets another four plays to make a touchdown.
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Jim H
December 9, 2009 12:55 PM in reply to Steaming Pile
Yeah, but it 45 years to make this one first down.
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Cool Blue Reason
December 9, 2009 1:01 PM in reply to mcjam
There are still going to be the exchanges, with greater regulations, subsidies, and measures to increase competition (possibly including a triggered public option).
It sure as hell is a lot more than nothing. In fact, I'd say the overall package (which admittedly no one has yet seen) is probably better than the anemic public option that was on the table.
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wbgonne
December 9, 2009 2:49 PM in reply to Cool Blue Reason
The enfeebled public option is NOT the proper point of comparison. That is simply buying into the shell game; Let's whittle the public option down to meaninglessness and then say, well, it isn't that great anyway so let's just get rid of it. We have been manipulated.
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richard f
December 9, 2009 1:26 PM in reply to mcjam
Its still reform. You will still have the option of getting insurance through the exchange (or through your employer if that is offered). Yes, you won't have the immediate option of a government run plan (unless the trigger is pulled) but to say that this is not reform is somewhat ridiculous.
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wbgonne
December 9, 2009 2:52 PM in reply to richard f
It's health INSURANCE reform, not health CARE reform. And you know what? Whatever new regulations that the Dems install -- assuming they really work to begin with -- can be uninstalled as soon as the Republicans get back in which, based on the Democrats' performance, will not be very long.
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lousgirl84
December 9, 2009 4:04 PM in reply to wbgonne
Just repeating yourself won't make it so troll, no matter how much you wish the dems will lose in 2010 and 2012. It ain't gonna happen.
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DeeCee
December 9, 2009 5:18 PM in reply to wbgonne
Yeah, just like the repubs undid Medicare -- wait! They didn't undo medicare.
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wbgonne
December 9, 2009 5:42 PM in reply to DeeCee
Medicare was a government health plan, which is exactly what the Democrats are NOT doing now. Medicare stuck -- and Republicans couldn't dislodge it -- because it made a structural change to the health care system. That is what is required now and that is what the Democrats are failing to do.
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wbgonne
December 9, 2009 5:45 PM
"just repeating yourself won't make it so"
Then why do you even post anything? You never have an original thought. You're nothing but a cheerleader: Obama is great. Democrats are great. Go, Team, Go!
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blue8505
December 10, 2009 1:56 PM
Anthony Weiner is a guy that needs to get punched in the face many times over. This new plan will expand Medicare. A program that is going bankrupt and underpays hospitals. Do you really think hospitals eat the money from medicare, no, they pass it on to the patient. Thus higher medical costs equaling higher insurance premiums. Libs always have these great plans to help everyone but they always leave out how we are going to pay for it. Is there one economist or business major in the Democratic party at all?
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