June 04, 2009
Winning Hearts And Minds
According to Senator Baucus, the health bill that eventually clears the Senate will probably include a public plan option. Wow, so this is what newfound political clout can accomplish. Considering that Baucus was initially cool to the idea of a public plan, this is a big deal. Of course, nobody has actually seen a bill yet and plenty of political shenanigans could still occur. We could see a neutered public plan that offers only bare bones coverage. Or we could see some kind of "trigger" nonsense, where a public plan remains inactive unless private insurers fail to provide affordable coverage after a vaguely defined length of time.
There are still a thousand ways that a public plan option could be excluded from a final bill or watered down, but Baucus's statement is a hopeful sign that Obama's promised health reform will be truly progressive.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at June 4, 2009 08:41 PM