Pelosi signals openness to bill without public option but progressives chafe

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Dec 17 2009

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled Wednesday that she is open to health care reform that doesn't include a public option, "a strong signal that Congress could agree on a plan early next year," McClatchy reports.

The House in November passed a health reform bill that included a public option -- a government-run insurance plan -- but the Senate has been fighting over the proposal since then. If the Senate does pass a bill, it will likely then go to conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. "While the closed-door negotiations, which are expected to involve top White House officials, are still expected to be tense — several key points of disagreement remain — Pelosi told reporters Wednesday she was confident that those obstacles could be overcome. Asked if she could support a bill that didn't have the public option, Pelosi said, 'It depends on what else is in the bill.'" Pelosi and other Democrats have seemingly have decided on a strategy to pass a bill with broad areas of agreement "declare victory and work in the months and years ahead to fashion something broader" (Lightman, 12/16).

Meanwhile, leaders of the House's Congressional Progressive Caucus are perturbed that the White House hasn't responded to their request for a meeting with President Barack Obama on the Senate health deal, Roll Call reports. "House liberals are in an uproar over the agreement between the White House and Senate Democrats to strip the bill of a plan to allow people as young as 55 to join Medicare. The measure replaced a previously jettisoned public insurance option, which is part of the House bill and which most liberals back" (Koffler, 12/16).

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.