Hillary Clinton revives the public option ... sort of. | The New Republic

Hillary Clinton revives the public option ... sort of.

Inspired no doubt by her avid New Republic reading, Clinton has updated her health care issue page to emphasize support for creating public insurance options to compete with private health plans in Obamacare marketplaces.

“Hillary will work with interested governors, using current flexibility under the Affordable Care Act, to empower states to establish a public option choice.”

This is apparently a reference to section 1332 of the ACA, which provides states flexibility to experiment with new models, provided they meet regulatory and coverage standards.

Without more detail, there isn’t a whole lot to add. This has the potential to be a very good idea for individual states. But it also appears to lack the qualities that made the concept such an effective mobilizing tool in 2009. The idea then was to include a federally powered plan in every state exchange. A robust public option would’ve reduced costs significantly, and may have even swallowed private insurance markets, putting the country on a predictable path to national health care, while avoiding the maximal disruption that legislating Medicare-for-all outright would create.

Creating a public option in California could be a great advent. But it wouldn’t do anything directly to reform insurance in Texas. The hope may be that a handful of states experiment successfully with public options, and create models other states will follow in the future. A positive development! But not the goal that made the public option such a force seven years ago.

Logo

Independent journalism matters

×

Ads help fund our journalism. Please disable your ad blocker so that we can continue striving to be the most influential magazine in Washington, D.C., with our breaking news coverage, in-depth political features, and much more.

Continue without disabling

Choose your Ad Blocker

  • Adblock Plus
  • Adblock
  • Adguard
  • Ad Remover
  • Brave
  • Ghostery
  • uBlock Origin
  • uBlock
  • UltraBlock
  • Other
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Click the large blue toggle for this website
  3. Click refresh
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock icon
  2. Under "Pause on this site" click "Always"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Adguard icon
  2. Click on the large green toggle for this website
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ad Remover icon
  2. Click "Disable on This Website"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the orange lion icon
  2. Click the toggle on the top right, shifting from "Up" to "Down"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ghostery icon
  2. Click the "Anti-Tracking" shield so it says "Off"
  3. Click the "Ad-Blocking" stop sign so it says "Off"
  4. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock Origin icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the UltraBlock icon
  2. Check the "Disable UltraBlock" checkbox
  1. Please disable your Ad Blocker
  2. Disable any DNS blocking tools such as AdGuardDNS or NextDNS

If the prompt is still appearing, please disable any tools or services you are using that block internet ads (e.g. DNS Servers).