Nancy Pelosi is trying to come up with a new name for "Public Option Insurance" and Harry Reid is validating claims of the legislation's critics!

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/us_public_option_rebranding/2009/10/26/277135.html

SUNRISE, Fla. -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a government-sponsored public option for health care lives. But it may be going by a different name.

In an appearance at a Florida senior center Monday, the Democratic leader referred to the so-called public option as "the consumer option." Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, appeared by Pelosi's side and used the term "competitive option."

Both suggested a new moniker might get them past any lingering doubts among the public, consumers and competitors.

Pelosi says the term has been misrepresented and creates the impression that taxpayers will foot the bill for health care. Wasserman Schultz says she expects the speaker to give the new wording a test drive when she returns to Washington.

Hold on just a minute here. I thought that the public option was gaining support from the majority of Americans. At least that's what has been widely reported. There are polls that back up the claim, right?

This is completely insane. If the public option insurance plan was doing well there would be no need to rename it. Saying that taxpayers are not going to pay for government run health insurance is an oxymoron. Is the government not funded by the taxpayers?

Just take a look what Harry Reid is proposing:

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/reid_public_option_obama/2009/10/26/277274.html

WASHINGTON – Health care legislation heading for the Senate floor will give millions of Americans the option of purchasing government-run insurance coverage, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Monday, although he stopped short of claiming the 60 votes needed to pass a plan steeped in controversy. Reid, D-Nev., said individual states would have the choice of opting out of the program.

Critics say that by any name, the approach amounts to a government takeover of the insurance industry.

In deference to moderates, Reid also said he was including a provision for nonprofit co-ops to sell insurance in competition with private companies.

Senate Democratic officials say the bill Reid envisions would require most individuals to purchase insurance, with exemptions for those unable to find affordable coverage. Large businesses would not be required to provide insurance to their workers, but would face penalties of as much as $750 per employee if any qualified for federal subsidies to afford coverage on their own.

The bill will also include a tax on high-cost insurance policies, despite opposition from organized labor, officials said. In a gesture to critics of the plan, Reid decided to apply the new tax to family plans with total premiums of $23,000 a year. The Senate Finance Committee approved a tax beginning at $21,000 in total premiums.

The critics are right. If the government is going to control every aspect of the health care insurance industry, how is that NOT a takeover? Pelosi said that taxpayers weren't going to foot the bill. But Reid is saying that the option will be government run, and will include a mandate to purchase insurance. These people are not very well grounded in reality.

Didn't Obama just give a speech on health care reform, in which he claimed that critics of the bill were wrong? Now we have the House Speaker admitting that we need to re-brand "public option health insurance" with a new name, because it has been misrepresented? Misrepresented by whom? The Senate Majority Leader? The Senate Majority Leader is now validating the critics!

But Obama said... But Obama said...

This legislation is everything everyone warned it would be. How am I wrong on this?

Note: You DO NOT need to register to leave a comment.