It´s been left for dead at least five or six times by now, but once again the public health care option is making a comeback. 20 Democratic Senators have now signed on to a letter to their Senate leadership asking to push the public health care option through the United States Senate using the budget reconciliation process which only requires a total of 51 votes and would avoid a Republican filibuster. But more surprising than the number of Senators who have signed on is the composition of the group. At first the letter was drafted by four very progressive members of the Democratic caucus. That was only a few days ago now, and no one expected that number to climb much higher because the budget reconciliation process has been seen as too partisan or at least too aggressive of a strategy for Democrats and a White House hell-bent on bipartisan cooperation. Nonetheless, everyone from socialist Bernie Sanders to the very moderate Dianne Feinstein have now signed on. Even the incredibly conservative Democrat Evan Bayh has expressed openness to the option in recent days. Just two days ago, Chuck Schumer signed on, the first member of the Democratic leadership to do so. And just yesterday Senate Majority Leader expressed his own willingness to push a public option through reconciliation.
The real question is: is this politics or policy? There may in fact be momentum for the public option, especially on the part of those who have long supported it and see an opening presented by the Republicans´ refusal to put forward their own ideas. It may be that the majority of the Democratic caucus is learning the right lessons from the defeat in Massachusetts. The polls showed that loss was not due to over aggressive Democratic proposals, but rather that voters thought Democrats hadn´t done enough to follow up on the change they promised in the last election. It may also be clear to Democrats that their ability to win back the middle before the 2012 midterms is limited, but they can still win back their base. They would be wise to remember that their base is still bigger than the Republican base. The public option is exactly the right tool to re-energize their base and deploy their foot soldiers in advance of the election.
However, it´s equally possible that, realizing their base is demoralized, Democratic senators simply wish to prove to their base that they put in the good fight before conceding and attempting to pass a stripped down version of health care reform that could secure the votes of a moderate Republican like Olympia Snowe or even the newly elected Scott Brown. If this move is political, they ought to save their collective breath, because passing a health care bill that will do little to control health care costs or provide access to the uninsured will do little to win back liberals and nothing to inspire moderates to move back into their column.
Every once in a while it turns out that the smart political move is also the right thing to do. A strong health care reform bill with a public health care option will re-energize the Democratic base and provide Americans with the most sweeping progress in health care in a half century. They ought not miss this opportunity.
Comments
I'm excited about this, especially in the light of recent rate hikes by insurance cos. I think you can call the White House at(202)456-1111 to voice agreement.
When I was young and working I felt so bad for the people who had to make the decision between food and medicine. It seemed impossible to believe that this country could reach that point in health care. And now, many years later, I am in the same boat, having to ask my doctor for samples of the meds I need or doing without. H E L P someone!!! A change is very long overdue.
I don't think that we have to ascribe the means of achieving the public option. It is a very reasonable and effective addition to the health reform legislation that is long overdue. If Scott is correct that only 51 votes are needed to pass the public option then the Democrats should do it as quickly as possible.
Scientific proof that nonprofit and universal healthcare each lowers mortality; Part 1: ------ (1) Does Medicare Save Lives? (Yes - 20% reduction in mortality. Part of the reduction holds in comparison to private insurance: Elderly hospital patients admitted through emergency rooms have lower mortality on Medicare compared to private insurance. Medicare denies fewer claims, so providers do more for patients on Medicare.) ------ (2) Measuring The Health Of Nations: Updating An Earlier Analysis (Of the 19 richest OECD countries, the US now has the highest health care amenable mortality rate by far. Reducing this rate to the 3 top-performing countries' average would cause 101,000 fewer deaths annually; 101,000 Americans die annually from lack of health care - not just via lack of health insurance. [The French rate is the lowest, and the Canadian rate is close to it, much lower than the highest, the US rate.])
More scientific proof that nonprofit and universal healthcare each lowers mortality: --- (3) Relation between income inequality and mortality in Canada and in the United States: cross sectional assessment using census data and vital statistics (Canada has no association between income inequality and mortality. The US has a strong such association for those under 65 but no such association for those over 65 - American Medicare saves the day. Such an association existed in Canada before nonprofit universal healthcare.) --- (4) (5) A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing mortality rates of private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals. Payments for care at private for-profit and private not-for-profit hospitals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (For-profit hospitals have 2% higher mortality and 19% higher costs because of the need to generate profit to satisfy investors, the significantly higher administrative costs, and the large executive bonuses.)
SLAM it through! Reconciliation! JAM IT DOWN OUR THROATS!
It will be the leftists putting the rope around their very own necks.
See you in November.
Democrats made so much noise as to how they supported the public option, that it's a joke watching them scramble for support, and after blaming the prior lack of support in the overall bill to everyone else but themselves.
A public option would be good; an improvement.
But what this country really needs in a single payer system opening up Medicare to all Americans.
Get it passed! And lets support those who pass it in November!
4000 people, Americans, die every year. 110 die every day for lack of affordable health care.
The Public Option will stop this slaughter.
All you people who are yelling to get this done for the benefit of the people -- do you guys REALLY know what this will ultimately cost us? I don't think so! Wake up out there!
Finally our President has put legs on health care by letting us know what he wants. I would prefer that his agenda was presented as a firm proposal not "an opening bid" as he termed it though.
How refreshed I felt reading that "the smart political move" an also be "the right thing to do". I was almost giving up on seeing this again. Moreover, I have seen few politicians, save a retired or retiring one, and my own Bernie Sanders & Patrick Leahy, that do what they believe in, elections be damned.
Dear Mr. President:
Health care reform without a public option is no reform at all.
Mr. President, you seem to slipping from a position of leadership, to one of management. Please, take a few minutes to watch this clip from the 1995 movie, The American President, starring Michael Douglas. View it in the context of health care and banking reform, and the current state of malaise in American politics. This clip is worth 10,000 words.
Thank you.
youtube(dot)com/watch?v=mWRVbWMvi7c
The public option never went away -- it was a smoke and mirrors act to get everyone to let their guards down. We are going to be taken to the cleaners and supporters of this debacle will soon realize that they voted for something that will ultimately ruin this country. I just "hope" the realization comes before it is too late for our country to recover!
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