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Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) has all but declared public option as dead as the White House backs away from the idea.
From the Politico.
President Barack Obama and his top aides are signaling that they’re prepared to drop a government insurance option from a final health-reform deal if that’s what’s needed to strike a compromise on Obama’s top legislative priority.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that the public option was “not the essential element” of the overhaul. A day earlier, Obama downplayed the public option during a Colorado town hall meeting, saying it was “just one sliver” of the debate.
He even chided Democratic supporters and Republican critics for becoming “so fixated on this that they forget everything else” – a dig at some liberals in his own party who have made the public option the main rallying cry of the health reform debate.
At the same time, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of six senators involved in bipartisan Finance Committee negotiations, all but declared the public option dead in the Senate.
“Look, the fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option,” said Conrad, who has pushed an alternative proposal to create a network of consumer cooperatives. “There never have been. So to continue to chase that rabbit, I think, is just a wasted effort.”
Taken together, the remarks suggest the White House is preparing supporters for a health care compromise that may well exclude the government option – which could help Obama win enough votes for a sweeping overhaul but touch off a nasty battle inside his own party between liberals and more moderate members who have resisted a bigger government role in health care.
It was only in June that Obama said in a letter to Senate Democrats that “I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies honest.”
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About the author
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.
3 Comments for Sen. Conrad: ‘Public Option Is Dead’
Re T K, You & I both know that “Public Option”,
means Gov’t option. If you don’t believe me , go watch old BHO speeches, back to 2001 or so, & you’ll see that he has been & STILL is pushing very hard for “Single-Payer” health care. That can only mean 1 thing. Of the Gov’t & by the Gov’t
If you really want to see US Gov’t healthcare in action,,then you or ALL your e-mail buds,go to a Native American Reservation. It’s the POOREST healthcare in the US, AND it’s run by Uncle Sap.
They get very little money to run it & the Indians say “How can Gov’t run National HC if they can’t even run Indian Res. HC??? Do you know what a double hump camel looks like? It’s a thoroughbred horse that was designed by politicians. Think about it.
Re: Post 2;
For me, “public option” means something potentially embodying the proven elements of the effective Medicare, Medicaid and Veterans’ Administration Health Care System.
“Native American Reservations” are, I believe, essentially, sovereign countries and I understand that many tribal groups refuse federal aid of any kind and prefer to operate “on their own”.
Other native American tribes and groups that I happen to be very familiar with receive very healthy annual individual royalties coming from their oil lands, casinos, resorts, etc., in amounts well beyond the mean working American’s income, and certainly sufficient to buy private health care insurance should they choose to do so. (???)
The “public option” could simply have been an expansion of Medicare with different eligibility requirements, monthly premiums and options for those who are under 65 – including the availability of the optional commercial supplemental policies.
From the beginning, though, given the poor strategizing by the administration (Biggest problem: delegating creation of the bill to Pelosi and her closest and furthest-left minions without sufficient detailed instruction) the only “public option” that may get approved is an expansion of Medicaid to be accomplished by raising the income eligibility limits in order to include more lower-wage earners.