http://www.ourfuture.org/healthcare
1. Public Health Insurance Plan Advocates Flex Muscles on Healthcare Reform, by Mike Soraghan, The Hill, August 20, 2009
2. House Progressives Release New Report That Backs Decision To Not Support Health Reform Without The Public Option, press call with Jacob Hacker, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minn, August 21, 2009. See coverage below.
3. The History of the Public Option, Starting with Mark Schmitt at The American Prospect, journalists track the origins of the public option. August 20, 2009
• Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press: ‘Public option’ From obscurity to central issue
• Ezra Klein, The Washington Post: The Evolution of the Public Option
• Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic: The Public Plan: The Evolution Of An Idea
• Michael Tomasky, The Guardian Online The public option: a brief history
1. Public Health Insurance Plan Advocates Flex Muscles on Healthcare Reform By Mike Soraghan The Hill August 20, 2009 Click for source
The fury from the left about President Barack Obama’s shift on a public option has raised the prospect of House liberals joining together to defeat a healthcare bill that doesn’t meet their standards. When Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that a public option is not “essential” and Obama called it a “sliver” of the effort, the backlash surprised skeptics who’d long figured they wouldn’t dare to defeat healthcare and embarrass their president.
On paper, liberals have the votes. The Congressional Progressive Caucus gathered the signatures of 60 members threatening to vote against a public plan they considered watered down in negotiations with centrist Blue Dog Democrats. If Republicans unite against the bill, 60 votes is more than enough to kill the bill. “The real question is whether leadership would risk healthcare reform by not including a public option,” said Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.). “That letter was very clear.” Also, former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean has predicted Democrats who don’t back the public option could face primary opposition. And labor leaders have told the Huffington Post that they might pull support from Democrats who don’t support it. Read more here Read the letter to Secretary Sebelius here
2. House Progressives Release New Report That Backs Decision To Not Support Health Reform Without The Public Option Press call with Jacob Hacker, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minn Institute for America’s Future August 21, 2009 Click for source
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minn. joined health care expert Jacob Hacker and Campaign for America’s Future co-director Roger Hickey on a conference call today to explain why a strong public plan is critical to making health care affordable, driving competition and guaranteeing Americans quality affordable health care.
Professor Hacker detailed the reasons why growing blocs of House members refuse to support a health care bill without a public insurance option. Hacker highlighted the “enormous flexibility” of supporters of reform and explained that the “public plan is not a litmus test” but rather a “crucial part of an overall reform package,” giving people the choice they are calling for, controlling costs and driving innovations.
“If anyone has a litmus test, it’s the right. Anything that challenges the hegemony of the private plans is bad,” in their view. But private insurers “got us into this mess” and they should not get to decide the terms of reform, said Hacker. Read more here
Selected Coverage of the call
• The American Prospect: Public Plan Inventor: Giving Up Is “A Truly Ugly Idea”
• The New York Times: Progressives Reaffirm Support for Public Option
• Roll Call: House Liberals Claim Momentum in Health Debate
• Talk Radio News Service: No Public Option, No Health Care Reform Say House Progressive Leaders
• Kaiser Health News: Public Plan And Co-Ops Battle For Public Hearts, Political Minds
• The Now! Blog: Father of Public Option, “Co-Ops Do Not Merit Consideration”
• AFL-CIO Blog: Health Care ‘Co-Ops’: Strategy for Killing Real Health Care Reform
3. The History of the Public Option The American Prospect August 20, 2009 Click for source
The public option was part of a carefully thought out and deliberately funded effort to put all the pieces in place for health reform before the 2008 election — a brilliant experiment, but one that at this particular moment, looks like it might turn out badly. (Which is not the same as saying it was a mistake.) One key player was Roger Hickey of the Campaign for America’s Future. Hickey took UC Berkley health care expert Jacob Hacker’s idea for “a new public insurance pool modeled after Medicare” and went around to the community of single-payer advocates, making the case that this limited “public option” was the best they could hope for. Ideally, it would someday magically turn into single-payer. And then Hickey went to all the presidential candidates, acknowledging that politically, they couldn’t support single-payer, but that the “public option” would attract a real progressive constituency. Read more here Read additional coverage of this story
• Associated Press: ‘Public option’ From obscurity to central issue
• The Washington Post: The Evolution of the Public Option
• The Atlantic: The Public Plan: The Evolution Of An Idea
• The Guardian Online: The public option: a brief history
Additional Resources: Public Health Insurance Resource Page
• Frank Clemente: “A Public Health Insurance Plan: Reducing Costs and Improving Quality” (PDF)
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