Senate Dems Locate Spines, Re-Install Them

The Democratic push-back to keep the public option is growing steam and right where it needs to be: in the Senate.

Several leading Democrats voiced concern Monday about an apparent White House shift on health-care reform, objecting to signals from senior administration officials that they would abandon the idea of a government-run insurance plan if it lacked the backing to pass Congress.

In the Senate, where negotiations are now focused, John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.) said that a public option, as the plan has become known, is "a must." Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.) said that "without a public option, I don't see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good health care a privilege for those who can afford it."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said that the plan will be included in whatever bill is voted on in the House. "There is strong support in the House for a public option," she said, though she did not demand that the administration express support for the idea.

One Democrat predicted that without the provision, the bill could lose as many as 100 votes in the chamber.

President Obama had pushed a nonprofit, government-sponsored insurance plan as an alternative to existing insurance companies, saying that a public program would compete with the industry and help reduce costs. Over the weekend, he minimized the importance of a public option, saying at an event in Colorado on Saturday that it was "just one sliver" of his overall effort to reduce health-care costs and expand coverage.

Two of his top advisers on Sunday reiterated that he is open to alternatives to a government plan, setting off a wave of reports about a White House shift and frustrating senior advisers.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, speaking to reporters returning to Washington from Phoenix, said Obama has not shifted his position, suggesting that the president's support for a public option had never been absolute. "The goals are choice and competition. His preference is a public option. If there are other ideas, he's happy to look at them," Gibbs said. White House officials repeatedly denied that there was any new positioning on the provision, accusing the media of fabricating developments.

Three House committees and one Senate panel have passed versions of health-care legislation that contain a public option.

I can understand the political move, to tie the Republicans (and the Village) up on the public option rather than health care reform itself. It also seems to have re-energized the progressive wing of the party. They're mad as hell, and they need to be.

Needless to say, the White House's trial balloon/surrender/offer has gotten stomped by the folks who have had Obama's back on this all the way. I personally think the public option is essential: without it, the rest of the health care reform measures become nothing more than a massive subsidy for the insurance companies and a mandate to purchase health insurance with no incentive to lower costs.

Finally, that bolded sentence in the article is very important: so far all the versions of the bill passed out of committees have a public option, four of the five. And let's face it: there's not a Republican out there that will vote for any health care reform plan, ever.

Even their own plan.

[UPDATE 8:55 AM] Hey look, Republicans aren't going to vote for a plan with health care co-ops, either.

But in light of signals that a genuine public option is in trouble, the Republican Party that found co-ops reasonable has decided to change course. Now, they're against co-ops, too.

The very basic logic of the public option is this: Most Democrats support a strong public option, most Republicans oppose Democratic health care reform period, so perhaps Democrats can win over a few Republicans if they keep government out of the insurance industry and create a system of privately-held health-care co-operatives instead. Simple right?

Not if the RNC has anything to say about it.

They're out today with a new release, attacking the co-op idea.... As the RNC makes clear, in their eyes, "Public option by any other name is still government-run health care."

Last night, right-wing talk-show host Mark Steyn said on Fox News that co-ops aren't different enough from the public option, adding, "[T]he whole system is in fact a kind of death panel."

So why bother to drop the public option to get Republican support? Let me reiterate: no Republican will vote for a Democratic health care plan. It is because the Democrats can take credit for it, and the Republicans will get savaged in the elections for voting against it. It's possible that a strong plan may force Republicans to vote for it, but the odds of that are near zero.