Sen. Whitehouse RI OSA Health Care Town Hall 6-26-09 DC

[RIProgressive]

Anything less will not be acceptable. The Insurance companies are middle men- if they are better managers then they will get the job. If they only manage, as they have up to now, profit from denying care, they will be in trouble. Right now the Insurance Companies ration care through limited networks, only sanctioning treatment plans & rewarding Doctors for limiting the time they spend with patients rather than focusing on prevention. The Public Option needs to be the straight stick.

[RIProgressive]

One of the things that was clear at the HCAN Rally in DC that this town hall was a part of, was that Single Payer was the program of choice & the Public Option is the compromise- letting people choose this option-a govt. system- in the marketplace.

[onlyrey]

Both Republicans and Democrats seem to agree that there must be Universal coverage; the question is if we want a public option, I say yes. The health insurance companies need an injection of competition or else they will keep on doing what they do best: Maximizing premium revenue, and minimizing what they pay for patients. Health insurance companies see hospitals as clients and patients as cost, when patients pay the bills.

[Boomer1949]

I'm also for the Public Option, although my first choice is single payer. The Public Option, as it's outlined in the House bill under debate now, isn't available to everyone and there are cost for the individual, monthly payments and deductibles but it's low cost and 4 tier coverage, will be in direct competition with other plans from other insurance companies in the Exchange.