Looks like the Health Care Summit and Michael Bennet’s letter has resulted in some momentum in the Senate to revive the public option:
In the wake of last week’s “bipartisan summit” — which proved that no Republicans in Congress will vote for health care reform — an avalanche of Democratic senators are announcing today that they will vote YES for the public health insurance option if it is brought up in “reconciliation.”
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) are the latest to announce their support, raising the number of senators on record from 0 to 30 in under 2 weeks.
This is indeed very good news. Without a public option and with an individual mandate, the Democrats would be left out in the cold electorally speaking for a very long time. I know if I was 35 years old (give or take 10 years) and was forced to buy health insurance from a private, monopolistic corporation because of legislation passed by Democrats in Congress, it would be a cold day in hell before I would ever vote for a “D” again. Many younger people believe they do not need health insurance and would rather spend money on other priorities.
20 more Senators to go and we might actually get a bill that will be worthwhile after all. Thanks to our very own Senator Murray for her public option support.
The Columbian reports that 66% of WA District 3 survey respondents (“voters” in report) favor “the national government offering everyone the choice of buying into a government-administered health insurance plan — something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get — that would compete with private health insurance plans.”
Wake up Obama.