"Why Obama Proposal’s Lack Of Public Option Isn’t Necessarily A Catastrophe" [View All]

[Clio the Leo]

Why Obama Proposal’s Lack Of Public Option Isn’t Necessarily A Catastrophe

A bunch of people are wringing their hands rather loudly over the fact that the proposal Obama unveiled yesterday doesn’t have a public option in it. And that’s understandable: It would have been better for the public plan’s prospects if Obama had thrown his weight behind it in his first affirmative presentation of a specific health reform proposal.

But still: People need to chill out. The lack of a public option in the President’s proposal is not necessarily a catastrophe and doesn’t necessarily spell doom for it.

For those who are pushing the idea of passing the public plan via reconciliation, the chronology they were envisioning never was contingent on Obama including it in the proposal he takes to the summmit. The whole point all along has been to push Dems to stage a reconciliation vote on the public option after the decision is made to do reform as a whole via this route. This would only take place after the summit.

There was never any reasonable chance Obama would take a public option to the summit. The gathering is supposed to signal a willingness to compromise with Republicans in some fashion. Including the public plan would have just made it far easier for Republicans to cast Obama as acting in bad faith, since it’s been the provision most aggressively derided by the GOP as the centerpiece of the dreaded “government takeover” reform represents.

The lack of a public option in Obama’s current proposal does not necessarily reflect on the chances, such as they are, that Dems will hold a reconciliation vote on it later. As Harry Reid put it, he will push for a vote on the public option “if a decision is made to use reconciliation to advance health care.” The key word being “if.”

To be clear, the White House has been disconcertingly quiet on its intentions, and it very well may ultimately punt on the public option by never signaling real support for a reconciliation vote on it, quietly letting it expire for good. But the lack of a public option in the current proposal is not, in and of itself, necessarily evidence that this is going to happen.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/why-obama-proposals-lack-of-public-option-isnt-necessary-a-catastrophe/