On Sat, 13 Mar 2010, SA wrote:
> A public option done through Medicare would be completely immune to
> parliamentary challenge.
That's a very interesting point, which we've discussed before, but is now more live since the Obamans have been forced (by Brown's election) into using this weird variant of reconciliation to pass even their own thing. Once you've opened the reconciliation can of worms, why not go all the way?
FWIW, Rep. Alan Grayson just introduced a bill he calls the Public Option Act: it would allow anyone of any age to buy into Medicare:
http://grayson.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=175363
It's a nice simple bill, only 4 pages long. Like the idea discussed a couple months ago, it's not perfect, but it's got the germ of excitement.
And if we're right that it could be passed through reconciliation, that allows a simple answer to the question of WITBD if Obamacare dies: pass this with the votes you've already got right now. And then spend the future improving this until it becomes the improved medicare for all that is single payer.
Michael