But, let's put it in perspective. We never expected the bill from that committee to include a public option. The chair, Max Baucus, gives lips service to supporting it, but voted against it because he says his goal is to get a bill that can be approved.
As I've written here before, he seems pretty tainted by his big money ties to health care corporations; and he has dawdled along, under the guise of bipartisanship, and seems to be crafting a bill that the insurance companies love.
Anyway . . . along comes a blog on HuffingtonPost that raised my hopes. Robert Creamer says this about the votes today:
In a surprising vote Tuesday, ten Democrats voted to add a public option to the most conservative of the five health insurance reform bills working their way through Congress. That's just two votes short of passage.This robust support for the public option -- in what most observers consider the most conservative committee in the Senate -- signals a sea change in Congressional opinion toward the public option. The odds are now very high that some form of public health insurance option will be included on the final bill when it emerges from a House-Senate Conference Committee later this fall and is ultimately passed by Congress.
The three bills that have passed House Committees, and the Senate Health Committee bill, all contain a public option. And increasingly it appears that the strongest form of public option will come out of the House.
In addition, Congressional Budget Office number crunchers say that a public option is the best way to bring the costs of reform down.
Hope is in the air. The Braves might still come from way behind and win the wild card spot in the National League playoffs -- if they don't lose any of the remaining games. And we might get a health reform bill with a public option -- if the Blue Dogs will come on board.
What a lover-ly day that would be.
Ralph
A Reuter's poll showed that 78% of Democrats, 64% of independents, and 48% of Republicans are willing to accept higher taxes to pay for health care reform.
ReplyDeleteAnd a Kaiser-Permanente poll found that support for health care reform has increased since September, and that 71% believe that Congress has not payed enough attention to what people like them were saying.
Other polls had already shown fairly broad support, 60% or more, favored a public option plan.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/reuters-health-care-poll_n_304098.html