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Speaker 1: with today's question. How does the public option work? You
Speaker 1: know the public option, as in the healthcare reform debate
Speaker 1: public option. For the last year, the government healthcare idea
Speaker 1: known as the public option has been the focus of
Speaker 1: intense discussion and debate. There's been so much debate, in fact,
Speaker 1: that the future of the whole idea is far from certain.
Speaker 1: The public option has been inserted into legislation, taken out,
Speaker 1: put back in, cut again. Currently, the public option is
Speaker 1: in So let's take a look at the idea and
Speaker 1: see how it works. The simple summary of the public
Speaker 1: option is this, the government will run a health insurance
Speaker 1: company and citizens can choose to use it or not.
Speaker 1: This idea sits in the middle of a spectrum of ideas.
Speaker 1: At one end of the spectrum is a world in
Speaker 1: which private insurance companies provide all health insurance. In the
Speaker 1: United States, at the other end of the spectrum is
Speaker 1: a single payer system, where the government provides all health
Speaker 1: care coverage for everyone. In America, the public option is
Speaker 1: more toward the former end than the latter. With the
Speaker 1: public option, there's simply one more company in the pool
Speaker 1: of companies providing healthcare coverage. That new company happens to
Speaker 1: be run by the government on behalf of its citizens.
Speaker 1: It should be noted that most other developed nations have
Speaker 1: trended towards a single payer system. Single payer has the
Speaker 1: potential to dramatically lower healthcare costs for a nation. It
Speaker 1: also removes healthcare coverage from the backs of businesses, lowering
Speaker 1: the cost of doing business. In the United States, there's
Speaker 1: concerned that the single pairer idea doesn't have enough support
Speaker 1: to pass into law. It might also be economically disruptive
Speaker 1: in the short term, since it would fundamentally change an
Speaker 1: industry that makes up eighteen per cent of the American economy.
Speaker 1: The approach behind the public option is not unusual. For example,
Speaker 1: the government run post office competes with private companies like
Speaker 1: FedEx and UPS to provide letter and package delivery services.
Speaker 1: At last check, EPs and FedEx were doing fine and
Speaker 1: competing well against the government run delivery system. In the
Speaker 1: same way, there are many public universities created by states,
Speaker 1: and they live in harmony with private universities. This despite
Speaker 1: the fact that many public universities have significantly lower tuition
Speaker 1: costs because they receive state subsidies. These two examples demonstrate
Speaker 1: that public and private companies can coexist in a marketplace.
Speaker 1: Why would the government want to set up a health
Speaker 1: insurance company? The idea is that a government runs system
Speaker 1: could provide service at a lower cost. This is important
Speaker 1: because healthcare costs are rising fast and they could eventually
Speaker 1: cause serious problems for the economy. One prediction shows costs
Speaker 1: nearly doubling by and consuming thirty four percent of the
Speaker 1: nation's GDP. The public option would create competition that could,
Speaker 1: in theory, compel private insurance companies to lower prices and
Speaker 1: cover more people. How might the government run health insurance
Speaker 1: company lower costs? First, it would eliminate the need to
Speaker 1: create profit and dividends for shareholders. Second, it would be
Speaker 1: able to do away with multimillion dollar executive salaries. Third,
Speaker 1: it could probably lower other administrative costs, and it would,
Speaker 1: through its size, probably negotiate better eates on drugs and services.
Speaker 1: But where would the money for the public option come
Speaker 1: from the stated goal of the public option is to
Speaker 1: create a system that covers its own costs and is
Speaker 1: self sustaining. People choosing the public option would pay premiums
Speaker 1: like they do to a private insurance company. People unable
Speaker 1: to afford insurance would receive subsidies from the government which
Speaker 1: they could use to buy either public or private insurance.
Speaker 1: Opposition to the public option idea comes on several fronts.
Speaker 1: Existing private insurance companies express concern that the public option
Speaker 1: will put them out of business, but is mentioned above,
Speaker 1: this seems unlikely. Pharmaceutical companies are concerned about the bargaining
Speaker 1: power of the public option. Some view the public option
Speaker 1: is a first step towards a single payer system. It
Speaker 1: will be interesting to see if these opposing forces can
Speaker 1: eliminate the public option or if it survives. For more
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Because it has
Speaker 1: sttworks dot com, Audible dot com is the leading provider
Speaker 1: of digital audio books and spoken word with over one
Speaker 1: thousand titles to choose from. Audible lets you listen to
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