Alan Grayson Puts Up

The erstwhile Rep. Grayson has introduced a public option bill in the House.

Congressman Alan Grayson, (D-Orlando), today introduced a bill (H.R. 4789) which would give the option to buy into Medicare to every citizen of the United States. The “Public Option Act,” also known as the “Medicare You Can Buy Into Act,” would open up the Medicare network to anyone who can pay for it. ...

The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish enrollment periods, coverage guidelines, and premiums for the program. Because premiums would be equal to cost, the program would pay for itself.

“The government spent billions of dollars creating a Medicare network of providers that is only open to one-eighth of the population. That’s like saying, ‘Only people 65 and over can use federal highways.’ It is a waste of a very valuable resource and it is not fair. This idea is simple, it makes sense, and it deserves an up-or-down vote,” Congressman Grayson said.

As Ezra points out, having the current bill in place makes improvement by incrementalism much, much easier.  Grayson's legislation is an excellent example.  Yggy agrees.

I think it’s pretty clear that this isn’t going to happen in the 111th Congress. But it’s a good idea. And it normally takes a few years of support-building to get something major like this through congress. Would be nice to start seeing how many members and Senators are willing to sign on. I note that if the big ObamaCare bill passes (no sure thing) then supplementing it with Grayson’s Medicare You Can Buy Into Act would be equivalent to adding the long-dead “robust” public option—a much better policy than the level playing field public option that’s been dominating discussion for the past 6-9 months.

Grayson's shaping up to be a hell of a progressive force, too.  Good for him.