Will Book Get Howard Dean Into National Health Debate?

[babylonsister]

Will Book Get Howard Dean Into National Health Debate?
By David Nather, CQ Staff


In four years, Howard Dean went from high-decibel presidential candidate — and mobilizer of mostly young, liberal voters — to low-key, nuts-and-bolts chairman of the Democratic National Committee, telling his party to broaden its appeal by talking to the red states again.

Now, he has no official platform in politics or government.

So the former Vermont governor is trying to return to his role as a mobilizer of mostly young, liberal voters — and anyone else who will listen — with a book on health care that stresses the importance of including a government-run health plan in the package Congress is starting to consider.

The proposal, typically called the public plan option, is one of the most controversial elements of this summer’s blossoming health care debate, and it is being rejected by Republicans and some centrist Democrats. But in the book, “Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform,” Dean says President Obama and congressional Democrats shouldn’t compromise the public option away just for the sake of bipartisanship. Without it, he says, the private health insurance system will have no incentive to reduce costs and eliminate the gaps in patients’ coverage.

more...

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=news-000003143318