HEALTH CARE REFORM: May be diluted, amid pressure

NATION — By MainStreetMantra Desk on August 17, 2009 at 1:07 pm

PUBLIC OPTION DEBATE

President Barack Obama’s administration has signalled that its healthcare reforms may be diluted, amid pressure from opponents. Mr Obama has been pressing for a government-run scheme to extend healthcare insurance to some 46 million people in the US.

The administration stepped back from its insistence on such an option over the weekend, with Obama saying it is “not the entirety of health care reform.”

His spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the president could be “satisfied” without it. And Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNN’s “State of the Union” that a public insurance plan is “not the essential element.”

The comments of Mr Obama’s senior officials come in contrast to the president’s remarks at a “town-hall” speech in Colorado on Saturday that his faith in a public option was strong.

If the administration makes this concession it would probably enrage many of its liberal supporters, correspondents say. But they say it could also deliver the president a much-needed win on his top domestic priority for 2009.

There has been some progress in the House of Representatives on agreeing a deal on the issue but negotiations in the Senate have stalled.
Both chambers need to agree on a bill before it can become law.

Supporters of a public option say it will create a badly needed level of competition, ultimately benefiting the public. At a town hall event Saturday in Grand Junction, Colorado, Obama said, “I think that we can craft a system in which you’ve got a public option that has to operate independently, not subsidized by taxpayers — it would be nonprofit … they would have to go on the market and get a market price for capital.”

Though Congress is in recess, the debate has moved forward in public and private ways. At town hall events, lawmakers have made their positions clear and often have been challenged by members of the crowd. And White House spokesman Gibbs said Obama would continue to make calls to lawmakers, even as he vacations with his family.