{"id":515,"date":"2009-09-08T15:18:17","date_gmt":"2009-09-08T21:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/douglaslucas.com\/blog\/?p=515"},"modified":"2010-06-15T11:13:46","modified_gmt":"2010-06-15T17:13:46","slug":"can-i-have-some-healthcare-reform-democracy-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/douglaslucas.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/08\/can-i-have-some-healthcare-reform-democracy-please\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I Have Some Healthcare Reform Democracy Please"},"content":{"rendered":"

The public option<\/a>, says the Chicago Tribune in 2009<\/a>, is a “government-sponsored insurance policy [that] would be offered alongside private plans.” It’s a Medicare-like option American citizens could select voluntarily if they so desired, and that taxed American citizens would pay for, as<\/del> they already pay for other public goods\/services ranging from air traffic control to zoos.<\/p>\n

In an effort to take some of the right-wing food coloring out of the swimming pool, here’s some information, as opposed to dis-information. By itself, the information below doesn’t prove the public option a good thing (though the public option is a good thing). But it does make you sigh and wonder where the hell the (representational, constitutional) United States democracy has gone off to. Here’s a hint about some of the above-the-table answers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you hate the public option but still want a lesson out of this, it’s that you should look at primary sources as much as possible when learning stuff. Preliminary research<\/a> seems to indicate teens today, for example, have practically no media literacy training and typically don’t think about sources’ credibility.\u00a0 Finally, you should watch President Obama’s speech about healthcare reform tomorrow (Wednesday September 9th), which might change the ballgame quite a bit.<\/p>\n

N.B.<\/a> The information below is subject to irrelevancy as time marches on.<\/p>\n