Firstread: All About the Public Option

[scheming daemons]

When then-candidate Barack Obama first unveiled his health-care plan, on May 29, 2007, his 3,600-word speech didn't contain the words "public option" in it. There wasn't a single mention of it (although an accompanying fact sheet did refer to a "new public plan" that would be open to individuals without access to other coverage).

The words "public option" or "public plan" also didn't appear in Obama's convention speech in Denver, nor in his victory address at Grant Park in Chicago.

All of this is ironic given that the debate over health care now -- especially now that Democrats, and perhaps one or two Republican senators, are the key players in it -- has become all about the public option.

Congressional liberals are demanding it. "A bill without a strong public option will not pass the House," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement yesterday. "Eliminating the public option would be a major victory for the insurance companies who have rationed care, increased premiums and denied coverage."

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Obama has said he prefers a public option, a government-run insurance program like Medicare, as a way to put pressure on private insurers to keep their costs and prices down. But he also consistently hasn't made it a non-negotiable demand. "He believes deeply in competition and choice within the insurance system," White House senior adviser David Axelrod told NBC's Chuck Todd earlier this week. "He believes the public plan -- the public option is one way to do that within the insurance exchange."

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While Obama didn't say the words "public option" in his health-care speech in 2007, he did say this: "The very first promise I made on this campaign was that as president, I will sign a universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term in office."

That's the promise he made. Yet whether or not he gets to fulfill that promise could be determined by what the eventual legislation contains -- and how it's received from members of his own party.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/04/2053400.aspx

[bkkyosemite]

1. And the legislators are not listening to us the people.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. When was the last time they did?

[bkkyosemite]

3. I hoped it would be different with a majority everywhere! And with this president who promised us

much. Where is my habeous corpus..........where is Single Payer....where is a stong public option. And what in the heck is Olympia Snow got to do with change we can believe in or a majority rules...

From a canvassing, volunteering hard working for Obama momma. I am down in the dumps.....

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. *hugs* I hear what you are saying. I, too, had hoped the Dems would be able to

roll on through with whatever they wanted to do. I suppose in a political climate where people are biting each other's fingers off, we have to at least pretend to be trying to do things in a bipartisan way. :scared:

[bkkyosemite]

6. Thanks for the hugs hugs back to you. I am just tired of money and power being the only words

understood by those that are supposed to serve us.:hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Me too! That's why I am so glad that Maine has optional public financing that

gets used quite a bit by candidates. They say that it is quite freeing not to have someone else have a financial hold over them. They can vote their consciences without worry of retribution this or that contributor. I just wish it was mandatory for all candidates in every state!

[bkkyosemite]

8. Sounds good to me should be for everyone who runs and let's just throw in term limits too if it's

okay.:hi:

[Eric J in MN]

4. The Obama-Biden health care plan at their website included a public option

"any American will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan"

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/15/767136/-As-a-candidate,-Obama-supported-public-option

[Echo In Light]

9. Thanks for posting