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| Economy |
| Public Option Not Dead Yet, 128 House Dems Try To Resuscitate It |
| 2010-07-23 |
| Four months after President Obama signed the historic health-reform bill into law, House Democrats are officially plotting to bring back the government-run health plan that was stripped out under political pressure. House members introduced the Public Option Act Wednesday evening to create a Medicare-like public plan that would compete with private insurance plans. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., is the bill's main sponsor. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, is among the 128 co-sponsors. The public option under this legislation is more "robust" than even what the House itself passed last November. Instead of the government negotiating reimbursement rates with doctors and hospitals, the proposal this time calls for paying providers a flat Medicare rate plus 5 percent. Democrats in the Senate couldn't muster the votes for a public option last year, and it was left out of the final reform bill. McDermott, one of Congress's uber liberals, was forced to skip the news conference because he was managing the House floor debate on extending unemployment insurance ("This was a very good day," McDermott relished). McDemott said House Democrats wanted to launch the debate on the public option now in hopes of garnering enough support for passage next year. Even foes of reform, McDermott said, would have to agree that curbing health-care costs remains the biggest unsolved challenge. "We still think that public option is the way to go," McDermott said. "I want to get the discussion going. Put the proposal out there and let people see it." |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |