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Meister: Removal of Public Option Sells out the Public
December 9, 2009
Jacob Meister, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, said he has grave reservations about the tentative agreement reached Tuesday among Senate Democrats as an answer to a proposed government-run insurance plan that has been a major stumbling block to achieving national health care legislation.
“I am concerned that the proposal won’t create enough competition in the marketplace to achieve the goal of providing affordable quality health care to everyone who wants it,” Meister said.
“Health care reform was – is – about making health insurance affordable to the public,” he added. “The public option was about serving the public interest. But now the interests of tens of millions of Americans have been sold out in favor of the interests of a few insurance companies. This is a crisis of unprecedented proportions.”
Meister said that people who are unemployed, working for employers who do not offer health insurance or who are undocumented place a heavy burden on the health care system, the brunt of which is carried by those who have health insurance.
However, despite its flaws, Meister applauded the part of the agreement which would allow Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 to buy coverage through Medicare beginning in 2011.
“I do not have enough digits to count the number of people I know who could benefit from this provision,” he said. “More Americans are entering this age bracket, many of whom have lost their jobs and pensions. This provision would be a big boon to a large segment of this country’s population.”
