The public option is dead.
Long live the public option.
Senators on the Finance Committee pulled the plug on the dreaded public option yesterday not once, but twice. You know, in case there was any doubt this thing has less support than Kanye West at a middle school slumber party.
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Now, at the risk of sounding over-confident, I honestly think this sounds the death knell for a public option. I think both moderate Democrats and us regular folks have realized we don't have the funds, infrastructure or even expertise to pull off what is basically the establishment of a brand new entitlement program overnight.
Call me crazy, but we can't even pay the doctors well enough who already are willing to work with Medicare. Now we want to start up – oh, let's call it OptionCare – and expect doctors across the country to come running? Yeah, that makes about as much sense as Roman Polanski calling on Woody Allen as a character witness.
But we can't get cocky now. Despite the swing of conventional wisdom away from this expensive experiment, Chicken Little Pelosi is still banging her drum. So while we can enjoy this minor victory, we need to stay vigilant. This thing is far from finished.
Besides, you know what they say, it ain't over 'til Barney Frank sings.
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