On the overall issue of revenue neutrality, I agree. The public option has nothing to do with it though. Adding or deleting a PO doesn't make it any more likely or less likely to be revenue neutral because it's a separate, self-sustaining thing. The level of deficits will depend on how fast health care costs rise. If health care costs keep rising at crazy levels, then the subsidies go up, meaning the costs go up. The reason people think the PO helps the deficit is because it's supposed to slow the rate of costs going up, so that would reduce the level of subsidies. The only way adding a PO would cause the deficit to rise is if it accelerated health care costs, but no one from either party has suggested anything like that would happen.
But the revenue neutrality has nothing to do with the public option. The costs that are in the healthcare bill are there with or without the public option, with the public option, there is more chance that rates will go down, which will also lower the amount the government pays in subsidies for the people who can't afford insurance.
When the health care bill is passed, the recession ends, the recovery gains strength, we withdraw from Iraq, and we re-elect Obama, just remember that it will be from the Democratic party. You know, the one that controls the Presidency, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. SAY THANK YOU
I believe most of the proposals have limits on the difference between the highest and lowest rates a company can charge based on age/pre-existing conditions/whatever. If that's the case, they can raise the price for everyone, but if they raise it too high, they'll price out too many people and lose even more money than they would by just taking a hit on the most expensive customers.
The reelection will be on November 6, 2012. I suspect you'll still be denying the other stuff, or b****ing about something or other until well past then.
How dare you sit here and call him an ideologues! He is not a ideologue, he is a Partyologue. Refman and Clutch, are ideologues because they believe in a set of conservative principles no matter if it's a Democrat or a Republican. MojoMan and Basso are Partyologue's- they let the Republican Party tell them how they should think or vote no matter how ridiculously stupid the argument might be.
Senator Joe Lieberman says he will back Republicans in the 2010 congressional races: Is Lieberman a DINO? What say you?
If Lieberman does that he definately should lose his chairmanship and also be kicked out of the caucus.
Again I was using the public option as an example. Also keep in mind Obama didn't say he wouldn't sign a public option bill that wasn't deficit neutral but a health care bill. When we are talking about whether the current health care bills are goign to be revenue neutral we are talking about the whole thing.
