Will Sen. Baucus 'Include' -- But Kill -- Public Health Insurance Option? (William Chirolas)

  May 24, 2009 -- Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he'd include a public insurance option in health reform, but now appears to be caving into the GOP as he puts "on the table" a "public option" that will not exist until Congress decides to activate it at some point in the future.

  On Thursday a planted question was asked to test the waters for a "fallback" public plan option that would be put in place in several years only if private health insurers did not do enough to cut costs and improve accessibility, with Baucus saying he would not rule out such a restriction on a public option plan coming into existence.

  Fallback refers to the wording that was in the legislation that established Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, which included a public option plan to compete with the donut hole Part D design, but which never resulted in a public plan because it was deemed unnecessary after the welfare check we gave the insurers so they would offer drug coverage resulted in private plans that indeed did offer the drug coverage.

  The actual result was more expense than we'd have under regular Medicare because of that welfare check, we got folks talked out of Medicare Part D and into junking Medicare in total so as to pick up some useless tiny benefits not included in Medicare together with seriously lower real benefits on the things Medicare does cover.

  Every expert in this area -- every actuary including myself -- has said that only a public option plan will help draw down costs within the health-care sector and give private insurers real competition.

  So what happens? At a Kaiser Family Foundation briefing -- at an insurance company -- Baucus says "fallback" is on the table.

  Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) has reportedly held meetings on the fallback option. We do not need Snowe -- or any Democrat -- to demand protection for the insurance companies.

  William Chirolas brings 40 years of real-world business experience in local, state, national, and international tax, pensions, and finance to the world of blogging. A graduate of MIT, he calls the Boston area home, except when visiting kids and grandkids.