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Debate on Public Health Insurance Plan Poised To Explode in Senate
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Sep 29, 2009 01:00am |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Jill Lawrence |
| News Date | Monday, September 28, 2009 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "The debate over whether to create a public insurance plan to compete with private plans is about to explode in the Senate Finance Committee. The stakes are high and so is the suspense.
It's unclear what the outcome will be Tuesday when the committee, continuing work on its 10-year, $900 billion health reform bill, is scheduled to take up 3 versions of a public health insurance option.
The panel has 13 Democrats & 10 Republicans. Anything less than a solid wall of Republican opposition to all 3 proposals would be shocking. On top of that, several Democrats have reservations about some or all of the proposals.
By my count, there are nine Democrats in favor of or open to at least one of the three public options. Two favor Republican Sen. Snowe's proposal for state-level public options to be "triggered" if competition in a state falls short. Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Ark. is a mystery. If she ultimately supports some type of public option, that would make committee chairman Max Baucus the deciding vote. He says he supports a public option but that it couldn't win on the floor.
The Finance Committee is often described as a microcosm of the full Senate – as in, leans moderate to conservative with a few liberals thrown in. What it's not is a microcosm of America, at least where the public option is concerned. Poll after poll has shown majority support, sometimes overwhelming, for a public option.
The public option would be a government-administered, self-sustaining plan funded by premiums and possibly co-pays. It would compete with private plans on an Internet-based health-insurance exchange, also called a gateway or marketplace, that is established by all the major health bills on Capitol Hill. Pres. Obama says a public plan is needed to keep insurance companies honest. WV Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a leading proponent of a public option, says opposition is "really just a vote for the insurance companies to make bigger profits and that is unacceptable to me." |
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