There's Gonna Be a Speech Tonight

Robert Reich writes on The Lessons from History on Health Care Reform.

Ezra Klein wrote The Public Plan Is Not the Same Thing as Cost Control.

Mark Thoma comments on it: "He's correct - the options for a public plan that have been proposed do not do much to control costs, and even in this weakened form, there is still considerable opposition to the proposed public plans from the right. The frustration on the left is over why the proposals for a public plan are so limited. Why don't they do more to control costs? Democrats control the White House and Congress, yet they cannot get this legislation passed? That is puzzling to many supporters. The practical realities of enacting legislation are far from the vision that many people had about what would happen after the election. For these people, cost control or lack of it is not the point, this is all about political power and allegiance to the people who put the president and congress in power. They would be far more willing to accept something like the Baucus plan if they felt that the administration had gone down fighting rather than giving in to the wishes of the other side whenever they manage to make a little noise."

And so does Paul Krugman: Why the public option matters.

Roger Collier writes about the trigger for the public option. "I proposed the trigger concept in a piece that ran in THCB back in March. It was clear then that a nationwide public plan faced very considerable political obstacles, and I suggested that a more acceptable approach might be to establish a public plan option that would be implemented only where and when private plans failed to meet predetermined cost control targets. Senator Olympia Snowe proposed the trigger approach to fellow members of Senate Finance some weeks ago, and the NYT reports that the White House—desperate for at least one Republican vote in the Senate—is now analyzing its political feasibility and practicality."

Robert Reich writes The Snowe Job, and Why a "Trigger" for a Public Option is Nonsense. "The problem is twofold. First, it's impossible to design airtight goals for coverage and cost reductions that won't be picked over by five thousand lobbyists and as many lawyers and litigators even if, at the end of the grace period, it's apparent to everyone else that the goals aren't met. Washington is a vast cesspool of well-paid specialists who know how to stop anything resembling a "trigger." Believe me, they will.

Second, any controversial proposal with some powerful support behind it that gets delayed -- for five years or three years or whenever -- is politically dead. Supporters lose interest. Public attention wanders. The media are on to other issues. Right now the public option is very much alive because so many Democrats care deeply about it, with good reason. But put it off for years, and assign it to the lawyers and lobbyists I just mentioned, and you can kiss it goodbye for ever.

If the idea is to have a public option waiting in the wings in case private insurers blow it, why wait for it at all? If it gets lower costs and wider coverage, it should be included right from the start."

Harris Meyer writes No Alternative: An Analysis of the GOP Plan