The Washington Independent today launched a “Public Option Scoreboard” that tracks the stances of U.S. senators on health reform. The feature will be updated daily as the various reform bills move through Congress. Today’s scoreboard lists 47 senators as…
Democrats pushing for a government-backed insurance option as part of their health reform strategy are finding out the hard way that, by taking single payer health care off the table early, they have little leverage now to force a strong public plan.
Senate Democrats could be ready to draft health care reform legislation without the help of Republicans, according to Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, who spoke with reporters Thursday afternoon following a meeting Udall, Sen. Michael Bennet and 15 other Democratic senators held with President Barack Obama.
“At some point, after you’ve extended your hand for a number of months and it’s not reciprocated,” Udall said, “I think it is incumbent on us as the majority party, with responsibility to govern and solve problems, to act.”
ABC is reporting that President Obama has asked to meet with select Democratic senators, including Colorado Sens Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, as well as former Connecticut Democrat now Independent Joe Lieberman. Speculation is that the president is looking…
DENVER– At a townhall meeting held at National Jewish Hospital here that covered hot-button topics including abortion, euthanasia, illegal immigration and swine flu, Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette stated that she would not vote for a health reform bill that did not include either a public option or an alternative that would challenge private health insures to reduce the cost of health care coverage.
“We have to have something in this exchange that will lead to competition,” she said, adding that, as majority whip, she had counted the votes and could “guarantee that a bill will not pass out of the House without a public option or some robust alternative.”
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Diana Degette conducted a Facebook question-and-answer session on health reform. She told participants that she strongly supported a public option, even though she expressed doubts that a public option could pass given the present tenor…
Politico’s Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei report that the Obama administration is preparing to roll out a new strategy to advance its health-care reform goals, and the president may give a speech as early as next week…
The Washington Independent wrote recently about the oddity of congressional Republicans blasting the thought of creating a public plan while at the same time lauding the virtues and successes of Medicare, which just happens to be…
EDWARDS — The question put to Congressman Jared Polis by a man at Wednesday’s health-care town hall in Edwards drew a loud cheer from the majority of clearly conservative mountain-dwellers feeling disenfranchised by the ultra-liberal freshman Democrat from Boulder.
As the Obama administration appears ever-more willing to accept a health-reform plan absent a government-backed insurance option, it’s worth noting how well competition within the private insurance marketplace has kept plans affordable in recent years. Here’s a hint:…
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