Death Of Co Ops

Practically the only person I would ever read at Politico last year (pre Laura Rozen) was Ben Smith. Even if he was sensationalistic from time to time, for the most part he tried to play it down the middle. That is pretty much the only reason that I am willing to link to his post on GOPolitico on health care reform. Well that AND the fact that he makes a powerful point about the CBO scoring of Baucuscare, specifically the effect of his proposed co-ops.

(The proposed co-ops had very little effect on the estimates of total enrollment in the exchanges or federal costs because, as they are described in the specifications, they seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country or to noticeably affect federal subsidy payments.)

The CBO confirms what liberal co-op critics have charged: That they will neither cover many people nor put downward pressure on costs, the two supposed benefits of the public option.

Looks like Kent Conrad is going to have to go back to United Health Care and ask them to give him another load of bullshit to try to offer as alternative to the public option because when other Democrats get wind of this, the co ops are toast.