The Public Option: Finding Common Ground

Posted on 12/30/2009 at 6:34 pm by Bob Cesca

I absolutely agree with everything Jon Walker writes in this post at FDL in support of the public option. Contrary to the stereotype, while I agree with writers like Cohn, Klein and Yglesias on the overall bill, I’ve always believed that the public option is a major component of healthcare reform.

But at this point, I’m not willing to jettison the entire bill because the public option isn’t there. What I’d prefer is that Congress pass this bill then we all push the long list of arguments in support of a public option and get it passed as its own legislation. This is definitely a possibility especially since it can be passed via reconciliation, and since the other reforms were passed already, reconciliation becomes less risky.

There’s a lot of common ground between the two progressive factions on healthcare reform. I think if we can meet at the public option and go from there, we all win.

Via

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  • http://politicalpartypooper.wordpress.com/ Political Party Pooper

    I think Congress already agrees with you. As do I.It’s a long way from Single-payer, but, I still believe that this bill will cause the health insurance industry to implode.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    Like Nate Silver said: reconciliation is a good “and” strategy, but a poor “or” strategy. Pass this bill and then pass a p.o.

  • alopecia
  • Jack G.

    “What I’d prefer is that Congress pass this bill then we all push the long list of arguments in support of a public option and get it passed as its own legislation”To be pragmatic, how are we going to do that if the Republicans take back too many seats in 2010?

  • jjasonham

    @JackPassing or not passing the bill is not going to have any effect on Republicans voting for themselves. The pragmatic thing to do would be to pass what we have now and continue to work for PO and Single Payer.

  • thruwithbuzz

    Did anyone really think that we were going to get single payer?

  • Bull Schmitt

    I thought the problem with reconciliation was that the Senate parlimentarian will only allow you to pass things that will affect the budget.The way I heard it, the public option could (likely) not be created out of whole cloth, but Medicare expansion would be much easier to get through the process.