America needs more than a public option. It needs single payer already. On the other hand, Grayson does strike me as being bold compared to John Conyers. The reason I favor Grayson over Conyers is at least Grayson is trying while Conyers never brought up HR 676 to my knowledge. HR 676 is better than HR 4789 but I applaud Grayson for being one of the brave few Democrats to strive for some improvements and he made a compelling speech you won't find from most Democrats these days. Does Grayson support single payer by the way?

We need a Federal single payer system that maintains its own funds separate from the Federal budget, the way Social Security used to be, and allowed to manage its own finances. Social Security and Medicare are being allowed to go bankrupt because they are financially controlled by the whims of the politicials. A public option in Medicare won't solve anything as it is more and more being eroded and offering less benefits in which users are required to buy supplemental insurance or do without care.

This is a rather supicious article. It is more "too little, too late" and it is misleading in, at least, one significant matter.

"...it costs billions of dollars just to set up a national health care network." This statement argues for the status quo and is misleading because it deliberately ignores the very real and enormous costs savings which would follow (and there is plenty of proof that other nations have much better coverage at less cost per capita under single-payer type systems). The actual benefits for the majority of the people in this nation under nationalized health care would be enormous and THAT, apparently is now considered unrealistic - even by the so-called progressives.

Why is it that a gradual implementation of medicare-for-all is now ineligible for reconciliation while the phony public "option" is repeatedly dangled as bait?

I cannot trust anyone who is so willing to promote an obvious scam like this "public option."

I'm wondering why Mr.Grayson, whom I like, is preaching this and yet will vote for the bill without the P.O.?

Looks Don Quixote is tilting at windmills again.

The cost of the health insurance plan I have through my employer as gone up 15% in the last two years. So, for me anything that will create competition
for the private insurance industry gets my vote.

Grayson illustrates the problem with today's Democrats or "progressives."

What they like to do is come up with endless new schemes and scenarios for healthcare reform that will "convince" a general public that is already convinced in the first place.

What they don't like to do is challenge power based simply on the principle of justice.

So when the Congress "doesn't have the votes" for such schemes and scenarios because they do what corporate power tells them--what do these Democrats or "progressives" do?

They come up with more new schemes and scenarios to convince a general public that does not need to be convinced of the need in the first place.

What we don't need is more convincing and convoluted schemes.

It's real simple, fight for justice.

Fight for singlepayer.

Or STFU.

I think what is more important is a bill that immediately removes the ERISA Act based lawsuit threat from insurance companies against individual states setting up their own single-payer syatems with federal money from the current bill helping pay for their system.

Kucinich is pushing for this. That this cost-free amendment has been fought against by the Democrat leadership, even at the cost of Kucinich's vote, is just the clinching proof of who the Democrats are working for.

If we ever move to single payer, it will have to be state-by-state.

bait and switch.

Bring America Back !!!!

****I have no idea what Demmy Rep Grayson is really up to here with this, esp when his Leadership seems to want him to focus on their Forced Health Insurance and Abortion Package.

****But, Medicare is a program for those Americans who have paid the price of time, work, and social security, so not just everybody can sign into or for the bennys they are not entitled to.

****When our seniors do get Medicaid, they find it insufficient to cover all their drug and health needs, and most are required to purchase expensive Supplemental Policies to really be insured to their base needs and requirements. So, is Grayson just a shill to get more folks humbling themselves to all the usual suspects==all the Same
Big HMO, Big Pharma, Big Ins groups and companies who sell the Supplementals to Seniors ??? Ayyy, theres the Rub !
It ain't no public option, it's the same ol shit. AND, THE 45 million uninsured STILL will NOT be able to afford the so called Medicaid !

****Really, who is Grayson trying to distract here when he knows the vote on the Big Fraud Healthcare Scam is just days away ???? Forced health ins on folks who cannot even feed themselfs or their kids ????

****Demmys like Grayson readily forget Ted Kennedys Dream of Universal Healthcare---Free Medical Care for all Americans who need it; NOT, Affordable Healthcare for Those Who Cannot. When Obama threw Single Payer Healthcare under his political Bus, he threw Ted Kennedys dream there, and all middle Amricans there, as well.

****This 3000 Page Fraud is a disgrace, but do not think for a second that Obama and Pelosi won't keep Congress from their Easter Break vacations to force them to Vote on it, just as he did last X-mas on X-mas Eve !!!!

DO NOT REPLY TO GRAYSON'S FAUX BILL AS IT IS MORE BIG INSURANCE PREMIUMS UNDER THE GUISE OF MEDICAID. HE STINKS !

Taxation scam alert. Everybody knows the government is insolvent yet the politicians keep bringing up all manners of subject changing 'reforms'. Scams usually involve a pay up front feature and some logic defying component such as claiming that adding more people will bring down costs despite the history of nothing government touches comes in under budget. Too funny. Its kind of like listening to a lying child who thinks the next lie out of his mouth will be the lie that carries the previous falsehoods into new truth land. What a gigantic waste of time.

If Grayson DOESN'T support single-payer, then I won't support him, either. I cannot in good conscience support anybody who refuses to support Single-payer.

It is my opinion that the only way Medicare is affordable is if it is Medicare for All. I thought about this after reading comments during that Medicare buy-in argument a while ago -- which, of course, got ditched -- and I realized that I could not afford Medicare either at this point. I cannot do $300 or more a month with co-pays. And many of the comments I read from seniors it was more than this.

Medicare for All, as Bernie Sanders, explained it, really is the only answer.

Good on ya Alan Grayson. Sometimes I think there are more Republicans posting here than progressives.

Single payer health care -- everyone in, no one left out. This is the only sane solution to the health care crisis.

What most people never stop to think is that all working people are paying Medicare premiums now . Working people and seniors both pay for this health insurance program . The only diffference is that seniors get the benefit and working people must live long enough . There is something weird about this game of charades the Senate is playing . The House of Reps has passed almost 300 bills on to the Senate and nothing is being done about them . One of these bills includes a public option . Now the Senate is demanding that the House of Reps approve a bill designed by the Senate without even looking at the health insurance bill passed by the House of Reps. Rep Grayson is doing his best to help the people of this nation but the corporatist rhetoric has divided the electorate so deeply that getting the electorate to even help themselves is very difficult .

Any idea how much a Medicare premium would cost?

C'mon folks. HR676 is a single payer bill. It's also called "Expanded and Improved Medicare for All". So referring to Medicare as a model or building block to bring health care to everyone is a way to get single-payer back on the table without calling it single-payer; as SP has apparently been removed from public discourse in DC. Of course zmann's question is apropos. But the statistics on SP have been sliced and diced a million ways, by PNHP, HR676 and elsewhere; we already know that Medicare's overhead is hundreds of billions of dollars less than private insurance. Of course, Grayson threw his bill together quickly to get it out there while the foodfight over healthcare is still going on, so he left out a lot of details; see HR676. Maybe a four page bill is what dumbed-down America needs to look at. I signed the petition- what the hell.

If they have any sense of ethics or decency, they'll just kill this present stinker of a healthcare
"reform" bill, go back to the drawing board, and draft and construct a newer, better bill that includes Single Payer. Just saying.

I sent this to my reps:

If we really want immediate relief, and not an ongoing bipartisan debacle on national healthcare insurance coverage, why not legislate by reconciliation a simple Medicare buy-in for all option, sliding scale based on income, continue payroll tax but without a cut-off and at a lower rate to keep the buy-in cost low; those without means for any buy-in get government subsidy. Private insurers who want to continue in that business can give better service/coverage beyond Medicare or whatever they think the customers will buy from them with whatever conditions they choose.

Since the Medicare infrastructure is already in place, it could more quickly and easily work than a whole new scheme. This scheme could be a job booster by putting more money into low income pockets (people most likely to spend) and giving small business a break from the drag of providing healthcare. Medicare would have even more volume for cost-cutting clout and a greater income stream to stay solvent.

Still, we must continue to work on the underlying problem of high medical cost: seriously look at best practices both medically and fiscally and better promote what works, including treatments that are considered nontraditional in this culture; expand access to medical education (on all levels, not just MDs); expand efforts to educate the public generally on positive health practices and self-treatment options.

We demand a strong public option; and we vote our anger and encourage others to vote!

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Jesus in heaven. Finally a congressperson who levels his rifle at the system and pulls the trigger - at least that's what this article seems to be. I'm guessing the by-in's would pay more than what seniors pay, but I don't know - even so, I believe it will get a lot of business based on decent fees and steady, reliable service and prices. "Birds got to fly, fish got to swim" - I hope I remember that one.. "it's not personal, you social dominating, capitalist greedheads - that's just the way you are" - and I'll bet many of them would agree..

Insurance only works when most of the insured never file claims. Most people don't crash their cars. Most houses don't burn down. The premiums paid by all insureds cover the few who suffer catastrophic loss. When structured properly, premiums are reasonable and the insurer can still cover admin costs and make a profit, but only if most insured never file.

With health care, everyone with insurance files claims. Everyone. The insurance model is not designed to work that way. It can't work that way without driving up premiums. In order to make money, which is what a business is in business for, claims must be as minimized as possible and premiums must be kept up.

This is why the time has really past for private insurance companies to be in the business of providing health coverage. This must be a government service, not by providing the care but by paying for it. Whether Medicare for all or other form of single-payer, that's the way it has to be. People could still buy supplemental insurance, which is a good thing.

I have to add, it's really outrageous that we should even have to have this discussion and this vote. Protecting the profits of private enterprise at the expense of the wellbeing and welfare of the people is patently fascistic and must not be tolerated. It is outrageous. How can Congress be so openly bought?

If there's no public option forthcoming then it's totally outrageous that the crooked bankers and brokers who brought down the economy should get bailed out with trillions of taxpayer dollars while those same taxpayers are told there isn't enough to cover their health care! See how well that goes down.

Government of by and for the corporation is Fascism.
Government of by and for the people is Socialism.

(Either can have a capital-based economic engine, but it must be well regulated and prudently governed else it becomes a danger to all.)

May 0bamacare die on the vine. Start up with this new bill or another new bill.

What if this bill afforded interim coverage only, for the period between now and the effective date of the new law? Would it be easier to pass (or harder to oppose) if it had a "sunset" provision? Wouldn't private insurers quickly find ways to compete with Medicare for premium dollars? Some say a million uninsured people will die waiting for the new law to take effect. Might not temporary Medicare access save lives and improve the qualify of life of millions of people? If the pilot program failed, it would go away after a few years. If it succeeded, it could be reauthorized to take permanent effect with the other reforms.