Lemondrop

We're not embarrassed to admit that we're a little lost when it comes to what's going on with health-care reform. There were those town halls, some bill was introduced, Obama was on Letterman, but from where we're standing, it just seems like a bunch of politicos littering their angry debates with buzzwords that have no meaning to us.

To remedy this, we buckled down and did some research so we don't ever have to fake it again when everyone at the bar starts talking about the Blue Dogs, death panels and Obamacare. (What, that's not how your happy hour conversation goes?) Here's the Lemondrop 101 Health-Care Primer:

Buzzword: Public Option
What it means: Right now there are two ways to get health care: get private insurance through your employer or purchase it individually from a private company. The public option (which Obama advocates) would be the opportunity to opt in to a public insurance program sponsored by the government. If you choose this option over private insurance, it's basically like the government is your health-care provider; you'd still have all the regular pay co-pays, deductibles, premiums and other bells and whistles of "normal" insurance. Many private insurance companies, of course, don't want the extra competition a public option would create, and many Republicans oppose the fact that it could cost up to $1 trillion.

Buzzword: Single-Payer System
What it means: This dramatic option is truly government-run health care. For the purposes of Congress, single-payer would guarantee coverage for everyone, regardless of wealth or health risks. There are no co-pays, deductibles, or premiums. They do not, however, own the doctors, hospitals, or medical equipment -- those are still privately run. An example would be Medicare (or France). Those opposed to it point to the cost and necessary rise in taxes, plus concerns over the government's presence smack-dab in decisions about health.


Buzzword: Blue Dogs
Blue Dogs are a coalition of 52 fiscally conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives who want to reduce spending as much as possible across the board. When it comes to the health-care debate, the Blue Dogs have been garnering more attention these last couple of months because they are resisting President Obama's ambitious, pro-public option ideas on health care, citing the extremely high costs of an overhaul to the health-care system as the reason. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are worried that they may not be able to pass health-care legislation without the support of all the Blue Dogs, which puts the Blue Dogs in a powerful position.

Buzzword: Price Tag
Health-care reform of any kind is going to be expensive. Obama and Congress have some ideas about how to finance that: Use money that would normally have been used for Medicare and Medicaid (which, of course, isn't popular with seniors and families who rely on Medicaid and Medicare); higher taxes on millionaires; taxes on the most expensive private health insurance plans; or fees on employers who don't provide coverage.

Buzzword: Compromises
Many Democrats in Congress, including Speaker Pelosi, have said they will not support any health-care bill that does not at least include a public option. Those on the left see a public option as a compromise from the more radical single-payer health-care system many support.

A government-run public option would compete with already existing private options. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has said that if a public option is not included in the bill, the White House would be open to having nonprofit cooperative options that would still create competition with private insurance companies to keep rates affordable. However, no one is really sure what the "co-op" option means, so it hasn't gained much popularity.

So what's next?
After an intense summer in Washington, a bill was finally proposed by Senator Max Baucus in mid-September. The bill, if passed, would spend $800 billion over the next decade to provide insurance to an additional 30 million people, either through Medicaid or through a new insurance market. However, the bill now faces a long uphill battle to get passed. So far, it's been debated for days in the Senate Finance Committee but has yet to make it to the full Senate. On Tuesday the Senate Finance Committee finally voted not to include a public option, but Democrats supporting the public option may look to President Obama to find a way to still pass the public option.