Reform Rx - Snowe Quilting a Patchwork Trigger

Unfortunately in the quest for bipartisan support, Senator Olympia Snowe's trigger concept may be gaining ground. It allows insurance failings, already the norm, to be competed against by a public option only if the insurance companies continue their failure for some yet unspecified period of time. In short, grab more profits while you can and figure out how to circumvent accountability in the meanwhile.

The trigger option is a weak option that isn't real reform. And shockingly, there is now a move to dilute the inherent weakness of triggers...partial trigger or patchwork use of a trigger! This tepid approach would be tailored so that the public option or government plan would be used only in areas of the country where one or two private insurers control the market and failed once again to reduce costs. Other areas of the country could just suffer and perhaps insurance companies would be able to enjoy "cherry-picking" regions instead of individuals as they do now.

Maine citizens need to contact the White House to let President Obama know that Senator Snowe's efforts to abandon the public option do not represent the aspirations Maine citizens have for robust substantive health care reform. We are compelled to bypass our own Senators who are demanding too much under the guise of compromise in exchange for not representing Mainers who voted for the President's health care reform vision.