~> The issue that puts the public 
~> option on the table is the 44,000 who died last year because they were
uninsured.

I doubt that very many people die from lack of insurance, but it has
nothing to do with the "public option" aspect of the bill.  The uninsured
are supposed to be handled by (a) forcing them to get insurance, and (b)
giving them money to help pay for it if they are low income.

The "public option" doesn't relate to that, which is why it is potentially
going to be left out completely if enough in the Senate are opposed to it.
 Even Obama now says it is not a necessary part of the bill.

It would create government insurance programs to compete with private
insurers.  The theory is that it would keep prices down through
competition.  So right off the top you know that it makes more sense than
the approaches favored forty years ago by Richard Nixon and Ted Kennedy for
cutting prices.  But it won't work, and it will grow to push out private
insurers.

 
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