If Liz were Queen

From Congressman Anthony Weiner

It becomes clearer by the day that the big insurance companies need competition if we are to have any hope of containing skyrocketing costs.

First came the brazen proclamation by insurance companies themselves that rates would rise 111 percent without a public option in the reform bill.  This week, we’ve learned that small business will endure an average increase of 15 percent to their premiums this year.

This is not only the sharpest increase small businesses have suffered in years.  It’s not only double the increase they saw last year.  But it couldn’t come at a worse time, when many of these small businesses are doing everything they can to stay afloat.

We’re in the middle of a heated debate about what the public option could look like.  This news makes it more urgent than ever that we fight to ensure we have a real public option—one that has a genuine impact on costs.

Anthony