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susan walsh / associated press
Senate Finance Committee members Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., left, and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., talk Tuesday on Capitol Hill before the committee’s debate on health care legislation. Ensign spoke at length about his opposition to a government-run insurance plan.
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- Bigger premium discounts seen as a reward -- and a problem (9-27-2009)
- Harry Reid: Public option trigger 'pretty doggone good idea' (9-25-2009)
- Crafty wording for bill would help cancer institute (9-23-2009)
- Reid maneuvers for sweeter deal; some not impressed (9-23-2009)
- Harry Reid cuts Medicaid deal for Nevada (9-22-2009)
- Ensign will offer 30 tweaks to health care bill (9-22-2009)
- How the overhaul could alter the popular but costly Medicare Advantage (9-20-2009)
- Sticker shock: How the overhaul could exact a heavy toll on state finances (9-20-2009)
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Republican Sen. John Ensign delivered one of the more curious arguments against a government-run, public health care option during a long and lofty Senate committee debate Tuesday.
People might like it and use it.
Then it would become popular, and too big to fail.
And the government would have to support it.
“Does anyone really believe this Congress will let this government program go away if it has a constituency?” Ensign asked his colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee. “To have a large program like this, once it’s started, you’re never going to get rid of it.”
The public option would be a government-run health care alternative to the private insurance market. It’s intended to provide an option for those currently without health insurance, and, through competition, rein in rising insurance costs.
It has become perhaps the most contentious element in the proposed health care legislation — dividing not only Democrats and Republicans, but also Democrats and Democrats — and is the focus of those trying to defeat the health care bill.
Supporters argue the public option would force insurance companies to compete for all the new business that health care reform would create. The insurance companies stand to gain millions of new customers as both the House and Senate bills require Americans to carry health insurance, just as most states require automobile insurance. More than 30 million Americans are uninsured.
The uninsured could choose to buy the government-run plan or private insurance (and the poor would qualify for an expanded Medicaid program). Those who ignore the new law and go without insurance would face fines.
Tuesday provided a first major test of the public option during an hours-long debate in the Senate Finance Committee, which is the final congressional panel to consider the bill. Committee members were considering two amendments to add the public option.
Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, the leading advocate of the public option, delivered an impassioned speech.
Ensign helped hold up the Republican side of the opposition, sometimes drawing on his experience as a veterinarian. For the most part, his argument reflected Republicans’ contention that the new option would be a step toward socialized health care — that the public option would put private insurers out of business.
“All of this is a slippery slope toward complete government-run health care, complete government-run takeover of our health care system,” Ensign said.
Ensign scoffed at the suggestion, proposed in the amendments, that the public option would operate autonomously, relying on premiums paid by customers rather than federal funding. Once the plan got up and running, Ensign said, it would create its own constituency, and Congress would be afraid to kill it off even if it needed federal funding to survive, he said.
“As Ronald Reagan said, ‘The best way to ensure a life is to become a government program,’ ” Ensign said.
“These government programs start and they grow and they grow and they grow and they grow,” he said. “Government was set up to do the things we need it to do, not the things we want it to do.”
The amendments failed. Public option supporters vow to continue fighting on the Senate floor.
Ensign might be right. Should it be adopted, the public option might become too big to fail. Polls show most Americans — 65 percent, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News survey — support a public option.
Lisa Mascaro can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at lisa.mascaro@lasvegassun.com.
Senator Ensign:
When Reagan was Governor of California he enacted a huge tax increase, to create jobs and establish a strong infrastructure that has served Socal so well in creating so much opportunity and high tech over the next 40 years. When Reagan signed the tax increase he stated, "the only sound I hear is the concrete cracking around me". California needed infrastructure restructuring, and he provided the leadership.
California's problems today were not that they did not do enough, the gains were there in high tech, jobs and wealth for decades, they simply went beyond a mid point in doing too much too long in recent years.
When Reagan came into the White House the needs for the country were very different, so as a man of common sense he provided leadership for tax cuts and supply side economics. We had too much government and public spending at the time, and a Cold War that post Breznev and his blond American Girlfriend (read as "Insurance Rider") put us dangerously close to a first strike from the USSR in 1982-83.
As to healthcare costs and delivery in American, Reagan as a pragmatic cost cutter might surprisingly side with Obama today, seeing the need to put the expensive middle man (Big Insurance and Big Costs-Profits) behind the eight ball with a public option, thus empowering healthcare providers-doctors and their patients who have been taking the beating on both sides of the Big Man in the Middle.
I know I voted for Reagan in 80 and 84, and Obama in 2008, and have talked with some others with similar voting histories. If we see things the same consistently almost 30 years later, maybe the man we voted for in 1980 would also.
john just say we're not going to give the people what they want.if you actualy talked to people 1 on 1 and left politics out of it a support for public option for EVERYONE would be more like 90% not 65%. republicans and some democrats are bowing to their money masters instead of the public good. this vote going on in congress just shows who runs are lives and it's not us. quite sure the selfish wingnuts will wake up in a litte bit and start their retoric.
Hey John, here's a concept: Government of the people, by the people and FOR THE PEOPLE
First, the author, Lisa Mascaro, said...
"Republican Sen. John Ensign delivered one of the more curious arguments against a government-run, public health care option during a long and lofty Senate committee debate Tuesday.
...what's curious about that argument? The "public option" is designed as a way for the govt to get a foot in the door towards a totally socialist, govt run health care system. The majority of Americans do NOT want this kind of system. You are right on, John Ensign, keep fighting the good fight!
And then formervegas76 said...
"support for public option for EVERYONE would be more like 90% not 65%"
...LOL, check your figures again, support for the public option is more like 35%, not 65%.
Looks like a whole bunch of able bodied life long welfare addicts posting on this site.
Hey, if you guys want something, don't expect me to pay for it. Get a job
If I was a non-veterinarian, I wouldn't be calling a man with a vet degree and years of practice behind it "limited-educated".
There are millions in this country who can't qualify for that type of profession simply because of the brainpower it requires to get in the front door. Ensign has used this same brainpower to deduce that government has no business in the healthcare industry. Government's job is to see to it that American capitalism remains a "free enterprise".
In a recent Gallup survey, 89% of Republicans, 64% of independents, and 61% of Americans overall say Americans themselves -- rather than the government -- have the primary responsibility for ensuring that they have health insurance. Six in 10 Democrats say the government should be primarily responsible.
So Johnny Casino doesn't want us to have health care because the program would be too popular? Typical Republican. And for those defending his "brainpower", remember all the things money can buy in this country. Like good health care coverage. Or any degree one wants.
Johnny Casino has had such an easy life, especially lately with Mummy and Daddy paying off the mistress, that he doesn't understand how all of us in the work-a-day world have things like hospital bills, prescription drug prices, and HMO premiums to worry about.
While the public option may have some great short-term benefits, Ensign may be right about long-term consequences.
Look at the public option in shipping (USPS): It is running seriously in the red because politicians won't allow it to cut costs and upset their constituents.
The public option may work great for the first 5-10 years, but eventually, as it eliminated private competition, it would face the same fate as the USPS.
who cares what this little maggot has to say...
he is completely irrelevant...
johnnie boy ensign is a fraud...
a total and complete fraud...
this little maggot was granted every single advantage in life...
rode mommy and daddy's coat tails all the way to the us senate...
but that wasn't enough for this snot nosed punk...
he had to have his best friend's wife too...
and when he got caught he fired both of them...
just ruined their lives...
then...
then this little maggot went running to mommy and daddy to fix his boo boo...
all while a member of "the family" cult...
and a "promise keeper" to boot...
what a sad clown ensign is...
and by the way...
where the hell is the ethics investigation!!!
If the public plan is all about competition, why can't we open the state borders and allow all 1600 insurance companies to write policies? It would seem this would be the best method to open up competition and lower the cost of health care. It seems like we overlook the dollar to pick up the dime.
"LOL, check your figures again, support for the public option is more like 35%, not 65%."
Enteaser, you must not be paying attention:
"By a margin of 52 percent to 27 percent, Americans said Mr. Obama has better ideas about overhauling health care than Republicans. And the percentage of Americans who approve of how Mr. Obama has handled health care has gone from 40 percent in August to 47 percent, about equal to where it was earlier in the summer."
"On one of the most contentious issues in the health care debate - whether to establish a government-run health insurance plan as an alternative to private insurers - nearly two-thirds of the country continues to favor the proposal, which is backed by Mr. Obama but has drawn intense fire from most Republicans and some moderate Democrats. "
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticN...
"Most Americans would pay higher taxes to fund healthcare reforms that provide the best quality of care, but only a minority expects Washington to deliver it, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
The telephone survey of 3,003 U.S. adults conducted by Thomson Reuters found 63 percent willing to pay for healthcare reform, though most also said they are happy with their own doctors, insurance plans and out-of-pocket costs"
The American people want the public option.
Politicians tied to big pharma do not.
Time to throw them out of office.
We were going to throw Ensign out anyway though.
While I think Obama and the democrats concept of healt care reform is badly conceived and likely to cause many more problems than it solves, if they're going to ram it through anyway, I'd have no (additional) problem with a "public option" under the following conditions:
- It gets no extra subsidies besides those made available to the private insurers and their customers.
- It get no regulatory advantages over the private insurers.
If the government wants to set up a non-profit insurer that it thinks can compete on an even playing field with the privates, fine. What I'd fight vigorously is an insurer that was purposely give advantages under the rules meant specifcally to put the privates out of business in order to create a back door single payer system.
Have Americans forgotten we are in a "money" crisis? How many upper crust do you think we have who could pay "in taxes" for this health care bill?
We still have the Cap and Trade Bill which will add $1,761.00 per household per year to our energy bills. I have a copy of the Health Care Reform Bill and the Cap and Trade. Amendments have been added to the Health Care Bill. Ask this of Reid why want the Senate post the bill on line for citizens to read?
The Cap and Trade Bill will have amendments added when Congress and Senate is finished. Wake up people. Ask "what organizations will benefit from both bill", take a guess.
Taxpaying citizens like myself do not want our taxes to be spent on illegal Mexicans or illegal immigrants. We do not want healthcare premiums paid to private insurance companies to be double taxed. Let free enterprise remain the bastion of American commerce, unfettered by government.
This hypocrite womanizer (and perhaps man lover too) is an idiot.
What an embarrassment to the state of Nevada.
While all you right wing wackos worry about where your tax dollars go with regards to health care I am more concerned that MY tax dollars goes to paying this buffoons salary and HIS government run health care.
John Ensign says: "Public option would be popular, so let's not do it."
If anyone here still believes that John Ensign is representing his constituents, now is the time to allow those beliefs to die.
The Iraqi Constitution, drafted with the help of the Bush administration, gives ALL Iraqis single-payer health care. (Iraqi Const. Art. 31.)
Even second world countries have universal health care systems! When will we catch up to Iraq?
If there's a perfect picture for a "Caption Contest", this is it.
planet, glad you were up at 6.21am to pay for us welfare addicts. could you ask for a raise so i can have more food stamps, steaks on sale this week.
You would be certifiably insane if you support this idiot.
Caption
"I needed two hands to carry the insurance company money"
It makes perfect sense for the star of the political freak show that is the c street cult house. The den of debauchery and lies, where people believe that the methods of Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot are something to be admired.
Maybe that was his thinking when it came to Cindy Hampton, she liked it so it was OK? Where did she go, by the way? She must have got a big check to disappear?
Just when you thought Ensign could be any stupider...........he comes out with this comment.
What a dumbazz.
There are 564 amendments in the Health Care Reform Bill... Will SEIU Unions benefit, yes and who is behind SEIU? ACORN and Wade Rathke.
Ensign is a Pathetic Putz!!
How many of you think Reid is worried concerning spending OUR money?
Congress is on the verge of giving itself a bump in its annual budget -- even as local governments, families and businesses across the country are tightening their belts in the worst recession in decades.
Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill's annual budget to $4.7 billion.
The measure includes a hodgepodge of new funding for lawmakers: a $500,000 pilot program for senators to send out postcards about their town hall meetings, $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries and $4 million for consultants -- with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) getting up to nine each and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) getting up to three more.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/090...
How many of you think Reid is worried concerning spending OUR money?
Congress is on the verge of giving itself a bump in its annual budget -- even as local governments, families and businesses across the country are tightening their belts in the worst recession in decades.
Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill's annual budget to $4.7 billion.
The measure includes a hodgepodge of new funding for lawmakers: a $500,000 pilot program for senators to send out postcards about their town hall meetings, $30,000 for receptions for foreign dignitaries and $4 million for consultants -- with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) getting up to nine each and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) getting up to three more.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/090...
Think of this: Soda pop would be popular, so let's do it! Fatty french fries would be popular, so let's do it. Ice cream sundaes would be popular, so let's do it. Sitting on our fat asses; getting fat and lazy - eating sugar and sweets - wonderful, so let's do it.
When you read the statistics about what causes the majority of illnesses, it's because of poor diet; heavy smoking - heavy drinking, and too little exercise!
So, we let 'free enterprise' (not government-run) go wild with the crap that's on the shelves of all the major super-markets. There's a huge industry just in the weight-loss foods; pills, and equipment. All of this is 'private enterprise', and all of us who are dumb enough to 'eat our way to obesity and illness', have created the high costs of today.
You don't think the insurance companies were going to stop a roaring money train, did you? You don't think the doctors didn't love (and do love), charging high fees for writing a couple prescriptions, do you?
Health-care begins at home; with the individual. Medical-care begins when the person can't set a broken leg; can't get enough oxygen without assistance, and the kind of true MEDICAL CARE that is needed, could easily be taken care of by having a public option be put in place. It's not that people would like it and rush to it like their sugared drinks; it's that it would be a stop-gap for those who really need MEDICAL care.
Jesus was popular too - you see what happened to him.
I also like the comment above me - of the people, by the people, and FOR THE PEOPLE!
We let a few hundred elected a**holes make decisions for millions of Americans, and we actually believe if we vote, it counts. Forget it -- all of it is bogus -- you have to just start taking care of yourself as best your can; there aren't going to be any entities out there, who give a damn what happens to you.
seetruth,kiss this acorn, go back and watch becky boy and his truth squad. again the selfish people are out. SELFISH
Public option/government regulated option health care is FUNCTIONING WELL ALL AROUND THE WORLD. The United States is acting like the global dunce head. While the industialized world hums along more healthy and living longer than the average American, American politicians insist on keeping the insurance monopoly's stranglehold on our medical well being because our always "for sale" elected officials know they can't say no to big money. Our American system is corrupt to the frickin' core!! Money not only talks, it's running the whole show. And the tea baggers love it!!! A virtual conga-dance-line to the gallows!
Great! Maybe we will get lucky and healthcare will break the government's back. Then we would not have those scumsucking pukes mucksing in our lives any more. Government sucks.
I prefer the Republican health care plan:
1. Don't get sick!
2. If you get sick, DIE QUICKLY!
Anybody here in the culinary union? If you are what if your employer said that the 8% fine is less than we are paying now. You all get to use the public option. Is that going to be better than what you currently have? Remember it is run by the government. No wonder the unions want the public option just one less fight they have to fight. Enjoy!
Unions do not want the public option for themselves.
Many union members have cadillac health plans.
Why would they want to trade in a cadillac for a beat up Pinto?
ObamaCare, at first, wanted to tax cadillac health plans to help pay for ObamaCare but the unions cried and cried and cried.
Democrats came up with plan B...tax all non-union cadillac health care plans.
Tax the hell out of the unions. Tax them at 100% of everything they take in. Unions are for those who lack the intelligence to take care of themselves.
"The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare would cost only about $12 billion by 1990 (a figure that included an allowance for inflation). This was supposedly a 'conservative' estimate. But in 1990 Medicare actually cost $107 billion."
According to the Medicare Board of Trustees, Medicare has a $70 trillion unfunded liability.
Gov Guinn promised that no taxes will ever be used to pay for the Millenium Scholarship program.
I lived in a different state where the governor promised that the sales tax increase was only "temproray". It is still in effect to this day 30 years later.
In the early years of Social Security the tax was only 2% (both employer and employee) of income. It is now 15% (both employer and employee) of income.
Naw......Ensign is just full of it.
Government programs growing out-of-control????? It ain't going to happen.
You gotta love those 6 fire-fighters suing the city of Las Vegas. They have a $120,000 a year pension and they are suing to get more.
Gotta love government.
Ensign.....he needs to get a grip.
Government spending never gets out-of-control.
The only public option that makes sense would be the total elimination of our socialist programs Medicare and Medicaid. Then, if employers would stop paying for health insurance, everything would go back to normal. American health care sucks. I don't understand why people continue to support their pre-paid garbage?
The public option appears to some as the final option. Let the taxpayers and government pay for it all.
Some have sweet visions of free everything coming their way from the Obama administration.
"There is no such thing as a free lunch".
Delbert Delmonico, New York City. 1910.
Americans will never let the government run an industry like it runs the post office. It's called free enterprise. If a free enterprise ran the post office, you'd see it run efficiently, optimally, and at a profit.
I like USPS. I don't like UPS, they're VERY inefficient, try it. I prefer government.
OMG-- this guy is a total idiot! The people get the government they deserve..