10/30/2009 The unsinkable ship of ObamaCare—expected into port as long ago as last July—has hit an iceberg. And it now appears that there are few, if any, airtight compartments left to help it stay afloat as it flounders gracelessly on the cresting waves of public opinion.
Just a day after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that the Senate version of ObamaCare would contain the costly so-called “public option,” the embattled Democrat suffered several key defections against the plan.
The first Senator to head for the lifeboats was Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), who promised to join Republicans in filibustering the “public option.” He said he would vote against the bill “even with an opt-out because it still creates a whole new government entitlement program for which taxpayers will be on the line.”
Lieberman has hit the nail on the head. There is no taxpayer “opt-out.” So, even if states ultimately determine that they are opting out of the “public option,” taxpayers in that state would still be forced to pay for government-run health care for everyone else. And by ALG’s own estimates, that could cost some $2.1 trillion over ten years once fully implemented.
The “public option” has been drawing key opposition for more than a week now. Last week, it was Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) who warned Reid against including the “public option.” She said it would likely suffer the same fate as Medicare and Medicaid, the other two unsustainable health care entitlements the federal government has already enacted.
She said, “Why don’t we fix the two public options we have now instead of creating a third one… I think if you asked, do you want a public option but it would force the government to go bankrupt, people would say no.”
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