Video: Health care reform option contains no real public option contrary to the claims of Harry Reid

Harry Reid announced a compromise with no real public option.  AP Photo Manuel Balce Ceneta

The Democratic caucus in the Senate has finally reached a compromise on health care reform and despite what Senator Harry Reid may say it reportedly does not include a real public option.  According to Talking Points Memo the public option would only come into play if health insurance companies did not provide non-profit plans for the health insurance exchange within a certain time period.  According to the same report In exchange for giving up the opt-out public option liberals gain a Medicare buy-in program that would expand Medicare to people over the age 55.  In addition the current health insurance plan for federal employees would be made available to all citizens as part of the national health insurance exchange.  However this plan would be administered by private companies though they would be regulated by government.

The Huffington Post reports a similar deal has been made with one key difference.  Talking Points Memo reports that Medicaid would not be expanded under the deal while the Huffington Post reports that Medicaid would be expanded to include those 150% over the poverty line instead of those just 133% over the line. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is claiming the public option remains in the bill but in reality a real public option will never be seen as private insurance companies will do whatever is necessary to avoid implementation of the "trigger."  Senator Reid can not be blamed for trying to put the best light on a difficult situation.  Realistically Reid had to negotiate away the opt-out public option in order to get all sixty votes he needed to pass the bill out of the Senate.  The public option really died when Reid abandoned reconciliation as an option.  Since then the only real question has been how and when the public option would be whittled away.  In giving away the public option Reid attempted to gain the best concessions he could get in exchange and such is the compromise we currently have.

A number of hurdles remain before the compromise will actually become law.  First the deal is now being sent to the Congressional Budget Office.  A report which shows the deal increasing deficits would surely kill the compromise as the President has promised not to sign a package which is not deficit neutral.  Finally even if the bill passes through the Senate it must then pass through pass the House which is not a given if some liberals oppose the ditching of the public option.  This is assuming the bill goes straight to the House and skips the usual mark up within conference committee.

The liberals within the House will have a tough choice to make should the compromise pass through the Senate.  The loss of the opt-out public option is damaging to the progressive nature of the bill but some may argue that the other aspects of the compromise are actually more than worth than the relatively weak public option that had remained. 

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