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Playing hardball for the public option
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With Single Payer unlikely to emerge from committee, President Barack Obama’s public health insurance option appears to be the best shot for achieving universal health care coverage. But for this proposal to pass, nearly every Democrat in Congress has to vote for it, with liberal groups, such as Democracy for America, MoveOn.org and ChangeCongress.org, putting pressure on the fence-sitters.
In going after some of these more conservative Democrats, those who favor the public option have not been shy about linking their positions on the issue to the legalized bribery of heavy campaign contributions from the insurance industry.
One of the early targets was Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who initially called the choice of a public health care option "a deal breaker." But after an aggressive campaign, which asked if Nelson would sell out his constituents for $2 million in insurance industry campaign money, he flipped his position and promised not to support a Republican filibuster of the proposal.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who has received $1.6 million from insurance interests, is the latest target. The contrast between these campaign contributions and the problems many of her constituents face in getting health care coverage has been the subject of both an online ad campaign and a TV ad running in Louisiana.
Such ads won't be running in Michigan, where Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow have indicated support for the public option. Chances for passage have also improved now that Al Franken has finally been declared the winner of the contested Minnesota Senate seat, giving the Democrats 60 senators, a filibuster-proof majority if they all stick together.
When every other industrialized country has a system of universal health care coverage while spending considerably less per capita on health care than the U.S., it should be obvious that there is something seriously wrong with private health insurance and it is time for the government to step in. If some politicians have to be shamed into doing the right thing. so be it.
