Preliminary Sources

Should the U.S include a public option to lower costs of health care?

The majority of the Democrats believe that the people they represent want a public option to help drive down the cost of health insurance.  They also believe that without a public option there can be no real health care reform.  Lobbyists from the insurance industry have been pouring there money into Washington to stop the public option and protect their monopolies. 

1. This article is talking about the fight to salvage the health care bill.  On Thursday February 4^th President Obama vowed to win over the legislation to pass the bill during a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, after telling a heartfelt story about a former campaign worker who did not have health insurance and died from breast cancer.  The President would like to set up a debate between the two parties to lay out the issues and vote on them. 
2.  The senate passed its version of the health care bill nearly three weeks ago.  The Democrats, White house and rank-and-file members of Congress have been working around the clock to find things in common in order to keep the health care bill moving forward.  Senior Democratic sources said they would override the traditional legislative process during the final health care deliberations.  Although Obama agreed with the move to override the traditional legislative process, the Democrats still have different ideas on what the final bill should look like. 
3.  The difference between the House health care bill and the Senate is about five percent of the content.  The public option is among the five percent that makes up the difference.  Obama is assuring that if there is not a public option included in the final bill, anyone without insurance will have the option to be covered at reasonable cost.  Staying up one night in late December, the President watched the Senate take a key vote on the healthcare bill, and said that there is so much good in the bill, and is confident it will be passed.  
4.  Thursday was President Obama’s health care summit, which the Republicans initially refused to attend, but with a change of heart Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he as well as his members would attend to participate.  McConnell said he will go against the Democrats if they try to use parliamentary tactics which is called “reconciliation” to pass their health care agenda by a simple majority. 
5.  The public option has been dropped from the bill several times, but it has been brought back to life each time especially after the Massachusetts Senate race.  Democrats continue to push to include a public option as the Senate is voting on a series of final amendments to the reform bill.  They are using the reconciliation process which needs only 51 votes to pass.  Many different groups, such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, have been doing everything they can to get Senators to vote for the public option.  Very little progress was seen until Charles Schumer gave his support. 
6.  After months of negotiations between the Obama administration and the Republicans, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd revealed his plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulations in the upcoming week.  Kristin Brost who is the spokeswoman for Dodd said there will be a committee meeting amongst Dodd and Republican Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee, during the first week of March to see the effects of changes to the plan.
7.  House Minority Leader John Boehner made a decision to include governors in the health care summit. He demanded this in a letter to White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, earlier this month. Boehner believes that the governor’s voices should be heard in this open and honest discussion since it will affect their states.  Also Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signaled today that he would support including a public option in a reconciliation bill. This is another huge step forward from several months ago when the public option was almost left for dead. 
8.  President Obama is introducing a nearly one trillion dollar, ten year health care plan that would help stop or lower the insurance premium increases that upset consumers.  Posted on the White House web site Monday morning, the plan would cover around 31 million uninsured Americans, without adding to the federal deficit.  This still has to pass, which may be hard with most Republicans and a few Democrats opposed.
9.  The White House web site gives an overview of the health care bill and current news of what is being done with it.  President Obama as head of the Democratic Party gives details about what the administration wants in the bill and the effects of those provisions if it passes.
10.  Credo action is a liberal grass roots group that is attempting to organize a popular movement to demand that the House and Senate truly represent the people and include a public option in the final version of the health care bill.  They are asking people to write or telephone their representatives and tell them to support the public option.