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Potter: You know, it’s an argument – it’s probably the best case that I’ve heard from anybody why we need a public health insurance option. What they’re saying is, in fact, they bought and paid for this report from an outfit, you know, that’s worked for them and done many reports like this over many years. They’ve taken selective parts of the bill – not even bothering to read the full bill or take some other elements into consideration – and are claiming that the bill, if enacted, would raise premiums. It’s nonsense. It would not work the way that they’re saying. In fact, one of the authors admitted, apparently late yesterday, that they did not take into consideration other important elements of the bill.
Roberts: So let me stop you there and just drill down on this claim that they’re making, that the health care bill that’s now in the Senate Finance Committee would add hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to the cost of a health insurance package for most people and families. You’re saying that that’s just not true?
Potter: It’s just not true, because they’re taking the parts of the bill that the industry now does not like. What the Finance Committee did, fortunately, toward the end of last week was reduce some of the very, very severe penalties that the insurance industry wanted to have in the bill that would be assessed against us if we decide we don’t want to buy their overpriced and inadequate products that are often nothing more than fake insurance.