ACA option, mandate needed / Reader Response

The original version of the Affordable Care Act included the Public Option, which would have permitted individuals to join Medicare. Since the federal government is in a better position to negotiate rates with the private sector than the states, it would have been possible to control premiums more effectively and bring into Medicare younger, healthier subscribers.  That option survived the House but disappeared from the bill in the Senate due to the opposition of Republicans and some conservative Democrats, plus Connecticut independent Joe Lieberman. The state exchanges have been unable to negotiate lower prices from private insurers and suppliers. Without the Public Option and the Individual and Employer Mandate no universal health plan can exist.  As long as Congress ignores that reality, it will doom any health-care legislation to failure.

— Ada Bello, Philadelphia, abellog@comcast.net