Leaning towards a w00t!

The public option is a no-brainer.
All chips in please.

Time to give baby boomers a chance to say proudly:

"WE DID THIS! Now what are you guys going to do?"

These comments suggest that's where we're headed.

Give it a few minutes, and it will flop back to something more bipartisan.

Can someone please explain to an idiot like me why Reid needs a cloture vote before the debate can end? Why not just wait for the debate to end?

Why not just wait for the debate to end?

Because theoretically, it could go on forever - years. But more practically in this context it is because the longer a Health Care bill sits, the more its opponents can chip away at its support, both in congress and in the public, over time. This will particularly be true in a year, next year, when there are congressional elections and there will be a lot of political donation money floating around from well-heeled interest groups who want to kill this thing.

Is the reconciliation process still available ?

Momentum builds...

Armstrong weighs in...

http://www.livestrongaction.org/campaigns/healthcare

Because theoretically, it could go on forever - years.

Hmm. I was under the impression that Reid could force an actual filibuster if he wanted to.

This is all very encouraging. From what I am hearing Nelson would now favor a state opt in or out but is at least talking. Conrad appears to be of a similar mind. That means that momentum is building toward a public option (Medicare Part E?) among those who had been implacably opposed.

Joe Lieberman is the guy I am worried about.

Hmm. I was under the impression that Reid could force an actual filibuster if he wanted to. -Christopher

I'm under the impression that current senate rules put the onus on those wishing to end 'debate,' not those wishing to prolong it.

A public option isn't good enough! It has to be a REAL Public Option! It has to be open to everyone who wants to choose it. Anything less will be doomed to fail.

I know I'm sounding like a broken, record, but everyone is so thrilled that we might get SOMEthing, that they're not demanding we get a REAL thing. If what we end up with is A public option that's only available to a limited pool of (higher cost) individuals, it's not going to work! The option has to be available to ANYONE who wants it.

I like calling it "Medicare E"

Pirate wench is right.The public option has to be available to anyone that wants to participate.

medicare is broke. medicaid is broke. social security is broke. the post office is broke. amtrak is broke. our national debt is unsustainable. our annual deficit is over $1,000,000,000,000. our government is unable to meet its *current* obligations. yet obama has proposed additional spending that exceeds the *entire net worth of all the citizens of the country*.

"health care reform" in its current form is criminally irresponsible and borderline insane. it expands coverage and cost without simultaneously increasing the supply of caregivers. it will absolutely surely lead to the economic ruin of the united states within our lifetime.

people who do not value their freedom, security and wealth enough to act to preserve and protect them, deserve to lose them all.

The others are telling Baucus the bill must include some sort of public option over his objections (this from the "I will fight tooth and nail for a public option" Baucus-lying creep).

The WH aides are trying to find ways to include some sort of public option without devastating Private ins. so they can get campaign money come election time instead of private ins donating heavily to repubs. (Idiots can't understand that with single payer not for profit Medicare for all they could eliminate private ins donations going to either party...at least to the extent of $3.7 mil/day they are spending now to block reform.

This should be the time the President pushes, even demands a public option, yet he remains limp.

I think we can all expect them to come to support the public option eventually-- they just have to come to it begrudgingly, dragging their feet the whole way.

Also, shorter will_in_sf-- "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!" What do you think will happen if we don't reform health care? Have you heard the numbers about how much premiums will go up in 10 years if the system remains as it is today? Even you won't be able to afford it and your employer won't either. All because the pointless middleman (for-profit insurers) who provide no actual health care services want to make ridiculous profits.

At this point, it will be remarkable indeed if a public option that everyone can enroll in is established. From a realistic political perspective, the best we can hope for is an option available only to those don't get coverage through their employer. This situation, I believe, is the fault of the administration and of mainstream democrats in general, including media outlets and bloggers, who did not insist that single-payer be on the table at the start of negotiations. If it had been, it is possible that we would now be "settling" for a real public option available to us all.

I do, nonetheless, see some hope in the current situation, even if only some limited form of the public option passes. However, it is absolutely necessary that the program be structured in a way that allows it to successfully compete with the private insurance plans. In this instance, one can imagine a snowball effect of growing popular support that will ultimately force the expansion of the program. Even if the media refuses to cover the success of such a program, (imagine!!) that success will reliably be spread by word of mouth.

On the downside, a public option that fails to compete with the private insurance companies may turn out to be worse than nothing. The very fact that liberals fought for its creation will become one more reason to dismiss the idea that goevernment can successfully act in a positive way for society. People will become even more cynical about the prospect.

To mention one other possibly positive possiblility: Denis Kucinich proposed an amendment to allow states to set up single-payer systems of their own. This is well worth supporting and should get more publicity.

In the absence of any public option, I believe that this effort at reform will be a step backwards. The only thing that will have been accomplished is the postponement of the day when the private system completely collapses; and the establishment of government subsides will ensure that that will be a long, painful, and expensive process.