Cong Woolsey wants Obama to say it loudly that he supports the public option....

[joeycola]

Sad case when even Dems in Congress do not feel that Obama is giving enough support to the public option.



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-healthcare29-2009oct29,0,7602363.story

House health compromise has 'public option' with a catch

The new bill would require the government to negotiate healthcare costs with providers rather than set the rates itself. Liberals hope it will get conservative Democrats on board.


By Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook

October 29, 2009



Reporting from Washington - Paving the way for a crucial vote on healthcare legislation in the next two weeks, House Democratic leaders plan to unveil a compromise bill today that would create a nationwide government-run insurance plan but omit what many liberals consider the key to cost control.

According to senior lawmakers and aides, the so-called public option in the new compromise would not dictate what the plan can pay hospitals, doctors and other providers. Instead, the federal government would have to negotiate rates with providers, much as private insurers do.




.............And Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma), a leader of the influential Congressional Progressive Caucus, refused to throw in the towel.

"It's not even the fourth quarter," she said. "We will be insisting on it being as strong as it possibly can be."

Woolsey and other liberal congressional leaders are to meet with President Obama today.

"He needs to hear from us that he needs to support the public option," she said. "He's not saying it loud enough. We want to make sure he lets the Senate know he wants a public option in the bill."


...........

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/health/policy/29health.html?_r=1&hp

October 29, 2009
Pelosi Backs Off Having Set Rates for Public Option

By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON — Under pressure from moderate-to-conservative members of the House Democratic caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided to propose a government-run insurance plan that would negotiate rates with doctors and hospitals, rather than using prices set by the government, aides said Wednesday.


.............A whip count, prepared Tuesday, shows that 47 House Democrats opposed that approach while 8 more were “leaning no.” That suggests that Ms. Pelosi had lined up, at most, 201 votes of the 218 she would probably need. Ms. Pelosi’s difficulties in securing votes for the most liberal version of a government insurance plan were illustrated by four members of her caucus.

Representative Ike Skelton, Democrat of Missouri, who faces a serious re-election challenge next year, said: “Health insurance reform must not include a public option. While access to health insurance ought to be expanded to reduce costs for everyone, the public option could have the unintended consequence of forcing private health insurance providers out of business.”

Another moderate Democrat, Representative Jim Matheson of Utah, said there were better ways to foster competition. He prefers nonprofit member-run cooperatives, rather than a government plan.

Representatives Kathy Dahlkemper, of western Pennsylvania, and Steve Kagen, from the Green Bay area of Wisconsin, support a public option, but believe the government plan should negotiate rates with health care providers. Aides to the two Democratic lawmakers said Medicare rates in their districts were inadequate. ..............

[joeycola]

1. Pelosi hopes new health plan is poised to pass...........

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20091027/US.Health.Care.Overhaul/


Pelosi hopes new health plan is poised to pass

President Barack Obama, accompanied by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., waves as he l...
By ERICA WERNER, AP
Thu Oct 29, 3:20 AM EDT

After months of contentious negotiating, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prepared to unveil a retooled health care overhaul plan intended to bridge differences among Democrats and open a history-making floor debate on extending health insurance to nearly all Americans.
................

The bill would require nearly everyone by 2013 to sign up through their employer, a government program or a new kind of purchasing pool called an exchange. Tax credits would be available for most of those buying coverage through the exchange. They would have the option of picking a new government plan or private insurance.

During the transition years from 2010-2013, a temporary government program would help people turned down by private insurers because of medical problems, lawmakers said. After that, insurers no longer could refuse to provide coverage to the sick, nor could they charge more because of poor health of the insured.
......................

A concession to Democratic moderates appears to have cleared a path for Pelosi to move forward. Democratic leaders agreed to the moderates' demand that the new government insurance plan must negotiate payment levels with hospitals and doctors, instead of imposing its rates, as liberal lawmakers would have preferred.

"This has always been a matter of trying to pull together 218 votes," said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., referring to the number needed to guarantee passage on the House floor. "There is growing confidence that we can pass it with strong Democratic support.".................

[joeycola]

2. Has anyone heard of any follow-up from the OP?