The New York Times: "More and more, the Great Health Care Debate of 2009 is a numbers game. And the longer the debate goes on, the squishier the numbers seem to get. For months, many leading Democrats, including President Obama, have pushed for the creation of a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers. A main argument was that a public plan would save people money. It would not be under pressure to earn profits, pay high private-sector salaries or deny needed care." After the release last Thursday of the House Democratic leaders' health care bill, the Congressional Budget Office said "the public plan would cost more than private plans and only six million people would sign up" (Herszenhorn, 11/1).