The Washington Post front page blares today: “Prospects for Public Option Dim in Senate.” Don’t believe it. Yes, the Senate Finance Committee did vote down two amendments that each would have added a government-run insurance plan to the committee’s health care bill. But two key Democrats who voted against Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-WV) public plan, Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Tom Carper (D-DE), voted for Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) version. According to an independent analysis of Senate Democrat public statements on the public option, that raises the number of Democrats on …
Despite continued controversy surrounding the idea, President Obama and certain Democratic leaders of Congress continue to support health care legislation that includes a new government-run health plan, commonly known as the “public option.” Liberal advocates who are pushing the so-called public option believe that a new government plan would keep private insurers “honest” and help control health care costs. Conservatives—including analysts at Heritage—have instead argued that a public plan (especially one that’s modeled on Medicare) would arbitrarily cut payments to health care providers and shift costs onto private payers, causing …
Reporters pressed health care policy experts to address that question at a health reform panel in light of White House senior advisor David Axelrod’s assertions that President Barack Obama’s joint session next week will lay out a health care overhaul that could forgo the contentious government-run insurance option. For Gail Wilensky, a senior fellow at Project Hope, the public option is “clearly” not dead. “It is the most contentious issue and unfortunately the administration has dug itself [into a difficult situation] by having the public plan become a prized position …
Illustrating how proponents of Obamacare “lost the month of August,” Politico notes that while Rep. Vic Snyder (D-AR) claimed health care would be transformed “under President Obama’s leadership” in late July, by mid-August he had been humbled, telling a 1,000 person townhall: “I’ve never been a big fan of this public option.” How are Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) planning on bringing the likes of Rep. Snyder back in line? Again from Politico: Leaders say their strategy is to convince members that nothing is set …
In their front page story “Debate’s Path Caught Obama by Surprise: Public Option Wasn’t Intended as Major Focus”, The Washington Post reports that the White House was “unprepared for the intraparty rift” that occurred after the Obama administration seemed to back away from the public option this past weekend. The Post goes on to quote a senior White House adviser: “We’ve gotten to this point where health care on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don’t understand how that has become the measure of …
It’s becoming clearer by the day that the “public option” for health care is just rhetorical cover for kicking out free enterprise. The latest evidence is the strategy to attack and condemn private insurance. Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls the industry “immoral villains.” President Obama told the press, “If you take some of the profit motive out . . . you can get an even better deal.” He also told NBC, “People are having bad experiences because they know that recommendations are coming from people who have a profit motive.” The …
You might think that passing a bill through Congress is a really difficult and honorable task that involves late night debates, hours spent analyzing proposals and reading legislation, policy wonks splitting hairs over detailed issues, and a healthy dose of respectful opposition and transparency. Oh boy, would you be wrong. In this Congress, it’s rahm rahm rahm, Chicago-style. According to recent reports, Congressional leaders are censoring congressional mailings to avoid the appearance of two sides to the health care debate. And what is being censored? Democrats should be called “the …
President Barack Obama’s desire for government-run health insurance, aka the “public option,” is threatening to kill health care reform. Now some Senators are floating a “compromise” plan that would create cooperative plans as an alternative to a government-run public plan. True co-ops have a long and proud tradition in many sectors of the U.S. economy, including health care. But the plan currently being floated in the Senate takes the co-op concept in the wrong direction. The Washington Post reports: In its place, the draft circulated yesterday outlines a co-op approach …
Defending the Obama administration’s government-run health insurance option, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday: I think if you listen to the debate on Capitol Hill about health care you’re likely to hear two very important words: choice and competition. A public option that you’re referring to is nothing more than the ability to provide more choice through competition. Those, I think, are values that you’ll hear throughout this debate as being held near and dear to the hearts of not just people on Capitol Hill, but throughout the …
