Moderate republican Sen. Olympia Snowe has drawn a line at the public option. She'll only accept a trigger on the public option if insurers fail to make premiums more affordable. Blue dog democrats (conservadems for more effect) are leery of the public option. I think the public option has become more about egos. Frankly, taking on fee for service seems more important than the public option but that's not even being discussed.
Forget about the republicans. They don't want anything.
The left's new hero Rep. Alan Grayson and others are scoffing at Snowe, which is sort of rightwingish. Democrats need only to look in the mirror. If they could ALL rally around the public option, they wouldn't need Snowe.
In reality, Americans could get a big fat nothing because there are NOT enough democrats to vote yes on a bill with a public option.
On ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today, Rep. Raul Grijalva, the co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, said he will join liberal colleagues in voting against any health care reform bill that doesn’t include a strong “public option” that would compete with private insurers. “I venture to say that without a robust public option, a bill cannot get out of the House of Representatives,” said Grijalva, D-Ariz. “If that’s not in there, I can’t support it.”Mitch McConnell looks scared to death:
Grijalva called it a “waste of time” to try to try to address the concerns of Snowe, R-Maine, when Democrats have the votes to pass a bill without any Republican support.
“Obviously it worries many of us a great deal that we’re going to basically write the legislation to cater to a vote or maybe two votes in the Senate on the Republican side,” Grijalva said. “The fact of the matter is I think at the end of the day there’s going to be unanimity among the Republicans, both in the House and in the Senate, to vote against any health care reform.” ABC
Meanwhile, the all-out greed of the health insurance companies proves there ought to be a single payer system. I know it's not realistic but insurance companies should be sidelined in the debate. No one should consider what they want:
Another battle ahead--Susan Collins says the bill doesn't cut enough costs:
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