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Speaker 1: Audible dot com is the leading provider of digital audio

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Speaker 1: you sign up today. Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff

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Speaker 1: works dot com where smart Happens. Hi, I'm Marshall Brain

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Speaker 1: with today's question. How does the public option work? You

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Speaker 1: know the public option, as in the healthcare reform debate

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Speaker 1: public option. For the last year, the government healthcare idea

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Speaker 1: known as the public option has been the focus of

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Speaker 1: intense discussion and debate. There's been so much debate, in fact,

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Speaker 1: that the future of the whole idea is far from certain.

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Speaker 1: The public option has been inserted into legislation, taken out,

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Speaker 1: put back in, cut again. Currently, the public option is

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Speaker 1: in So let's take a look at the idea and

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Speaker 1: see how it works. The simple summary of the public

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Speaker 1: option is this, the government will run a health insurance

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Speaker 1: company and citizens can choose to use it or not.

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Speaker 1: This idea sits in the middle of a spectrum of ideas.

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Speaker 1: At one end of the spectrum is a world in

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Speaker 1: which private insurance companies provide all health insurance. In the

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Speaker 1: United States, at the other end of the spectrum is

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Speaker 1: a single payer system, where the government provides all health

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Speaker 1: care coverage for everyone. In America, the public option is

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Speaker 1: more toward the former end than the latter. With the

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Speaker 1: public option, there's simply one more company in the pool

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Speaker 1: of companies providing healthcare coverage. That new company happens to

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Speaker 1: be run by the government on behalf of its citizens.

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Speaker 1: It should be noted that most other developed nations have

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Speaker 1: trended towards a single payer system. Single payer has the

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Speaker 1: potential to dramatically lower healthcare costs for a nation. It

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Speaker 1: also removes healthcare coverage from the backs of businesses, lowering

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Speaker 1: the cost of doing business. In the United States, there's

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Speaker 1: concerned that the single pairer idea doesn't have enough support

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Speaker 1: to pass into law. It might also be economically disruptive

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Speaker 1: in the short term, since it would fundamentally change an

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Speaker 1: industry that makes up eighteen per cent of the American economy.

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Speaker 1: The approach behind the public option is not unusual. For example,

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Speaker 1: the government run post office competes with private companies like

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Speaker 1: FedEx and UPS to provide letter and package delivery services.

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Speaker 1: At last check, EPs and FedEx were doing fine and

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Speaker 1: competing well against the government run delivery system. In the

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Speaker 1: same way, there are many public universities created by states,

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Speaker 1: and they live in harmony with private universities. This despite

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Speaker 1: the fact that many public universities have significantly lower tuition

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Speaker 1: costs because they receive state subsidies. These two examples demonstrate

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Speaker 1: that public and private companies can coexist in a marketplace.

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Speaker 1: Why would the government want to set up a health

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Speaker 1: insurance company? The idea is that a government runs system

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Speaker 1: could provide service at a lower cost. This is important

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Speaker 1: because healthcare costs are rising fast and they could eventually

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Speaker 1: cause serious problems for the economy. One prediction shows costs

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Speaker 1: nearly doubling by and consuming thirty four percent of the

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Speaker 1: nation's GDP. The public option would create competition that could,

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Speaker 1: in theory, compel private insurance companies to lower prices and

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Speaker 1: cover more people. How might the government run health insurance

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Speaker 1: company lower costs? First, it would eliminate the need to

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Speaker 1: create profit and dividends for shareholders. Second, it would be

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Speaker 1: able to do away with multimillion dollar executive salaries. Third,

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Speaker 1: it could probably lower other administrative costs, and it would,

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Speaker 1: through its size, probably negotiate better eates on drugs and services.

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Speaker 1: But where would the money for the public option come

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Speaker 1: from the stated goal of the public option is to

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Speaker 1: create a system that covers its own costs and is

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Speaker 1: self sustaining. People choosing the public option would pay premiums

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Speaker 1: like they do to a private insurance company. People unable

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Speaker 1: to afford insurance would receive subsidies from the government which

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Speaker 1: they could use to buy either public or private insurance.

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Speaker 1: Opposition to the public option idea comes on several fronts.

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Speaker 1: Existing private insurance companies express concern that the public option

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Speaker 1: will put them out of business, but is mentioned above,

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Speaker 1: this seems unlikely. Pharmaceutical companies are concerned about the bargaining

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Speaker 1: power of the public option. Some view the public option

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Speaker 1: is a first step towards a single payer system. It

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Speaker 1: will be interesting to see if these opposing forces can

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Speaker 1: eliminate the public option or if it survives. For more

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Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Because it has

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Speaker 1: sttworks dot com, Audible dot com is the leading provider

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Speaker 1: of digital audio books and spoken word with over one

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Speaker 1: thousand titles to choose from. Audible lets you listen to

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Speaker 1: your favorite books anywhere, anytime. Go to audible podcast dot

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