27 Senators Call for Public Health Insurance Plan
Posted by Alan on May 30, 2009
Twentyseven Democratic Senators have signed onto a “sense of the Senate” resolution demanding that a government-run health plan be included in whatever health care reform bill emerges from Congress. Staking out the liberal position for what will be one of the most controversial elements of this year’s health care reform debate, the Senators define a public health insurance option as “essential to reform” according to a report on Politico.com.
Of course, there are government-run plans and then there are government-run plans. As Politico reports, Senator Max Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has said that while he expects any comprehensive health care reform legislation emerging from his committee to include a public plan this shouldn’t frighten opponents. “There are says to skin a cat. There are ways to find a solution,” the site quotes him as saying. One option under consideration, for example, is a “‘fallback’ plan, which would trigger a public insurance option if private competition proves inadequate in a geographic region.”
Most Republicans and many moderate Democrats have said they would oppose a health care reform bill if it includes a government-run health plan to compete with private carriers. Whether they would accept the idea of such a plan as a “fallback” is unknown.
Among those co-sponsoring the resolution are several important players in the health care reform debate. For example, Senator Edward Kennedy chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee which will, along with the Senate Finance Committee, is drafting health care reform legislation. And Senators Dick Durbin and Charles Schumer are members of the Democrat’s leadership team in the Senate. Missing from the list are any members of the Moderate Dems Working Group — 18 Democrats (including one independent) who may seek to block inclusion of a government-run plan in health care reform legislation.
The 27 Senators listed by Politico as co-sponsoring the sense of the Senate resolution are:
Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.)
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.),
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.)
Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.).
Bob Casey (D-Pa.)
Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)
Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Tom Harkin (D-Iowa),
Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Ted Kaufman (D-Del.)
Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Carl Levin (D-Mich.)
Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.)
Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)
Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.)
Jack Reed (D-R.I.)
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt. – an independent, Senator Sanders caucuses with Democrats)
Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)
Tom Udall (D-N.M.)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
This entry was posted on May 30, 2009 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Health Care Reform, Healthcare Reform, Politics. Tagged: Barbara Boxer, Barbara Mikulski, Benjamin Cardin, Bernie Sanders, Bob Casey, Carl Levin, charles schumer, Chris Dodd, Claire McCaskill, Daniel Inouye, Debbie Stabenow, Dick Durbin, Education, Edward Kennedy, Frank Lautenberg, Jack Reed, Jeanne Shaheen, Jeff Bingaman, Jeff Merley, Kirsten Gillibrand, Labor and Pensions Committee, Max Baucus, Patrick Leahy, public health plan, Robert Menendez, Roland Burris, Senate Finance Committee, Senate Health, Sheldon Whitehouse, Sherrod Brown, Ted Kaufman, Tom Harkin, Tom Udall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
2 Responses to “27 Senators Call for Public Health Insurance Plan”
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Insurance License said
It is not strange to see that the people drafting the legislation are supports of the public health care plan. After all who gets to build the comity?
@Health Insurance Guy: That is a good suggestion knowing that the prices are bound to go up either way – be it in the form of taxes or higher premiums. I guess if the preexisting conditions rule is removed, that would prevent more than half the claims from being denied.
But what then of those who cannot afford insurance? Do you not think that health care is a right of all human beings? And what if you were to request it at old age? Most will not accept even if they’re willing to pay the price in that case. Just a thought… not taking sides.
Health Insurance Guy said
Why not simply put more pressure on the health insurance carriers to cover everyone regardless of preexisting conditions? If this can be done while also monitoring premiums and premium increase and at the same time fostering competition among carriers, then we can let the govt handle other issues that need funding like Soc. Security and Medicare.