Not Much of a Healthy Option?

(Thumbnail image from The Washington Post)

The Senate Finance Committee rejected attempts by Democrats to add a public option to senator Baucus’ health care plan on Tuesday, which has sparked mix reaction as to what the final health care bill will and should look like.

There is debate not only over the politics of the bill, but the pragmatism? 

Although the Senate Finance Committee denied attempts to institute a government-run health care plan, some believe there is still strong support for a public option.   Wolf Blitzer of CNN asked senator West Virginia senator John D. Rockefeller IV what the defeat meant for a public option.

“Is the public option dead? No, and actually the big story coming out of today is that I got eight votes and chuck Schumer got ten votes, and in effect that's like getting all the democrats to vote for it.”

In an opinion piece in the Huffington Post, political contends that strong democratic support to add a public option to the most conservative of the health care bills means that a public option is now closer than ever.

“This robust support for the public option - in what most observers consider the most conservative committee in the Senate - signals a sea change in Congressional opinion toward the public option. The odds are now very high that some form of public health insurance option will be included on the final bill.”

Not all are so hopeful that the public option is still a contender.  FOX News looks at...

"I can count, and no one has. so democrats are arguing that there still are not enough votes for a public option or the government has run insurance alternative in the overall health care reform, so it is dead. Not a good sign for supporters of a government insurance program."

West Virginia senator John D. Rockefeller IV proposed a public option called the Community Choice Health Plan, which for the first two years would pay health care providers similar fees to Medicare. In the National Review Online’s health care blog, James C. Capretta blasted the idea as ineffective.

“Medicare’s payment rules are arbitrary, shift costs to others, promote fragmentation and autonomy among health-care providers instead of integration, and reward volume instead of quality and efficiency.... The last thing we need is for more of the health-care system to adopt Medicare’s payment rules.”

Some argue that greater support can be found in the House even if it doesn’t pass in the senate.  The New York Times:

"There is wider support for a government-run insurance plan in the House, where the Democratic caucus is more liberal. And if the House bill includes a public option, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated, the issue will ultimately be decided in a conference proceedings to reconcile the Senate and House bills."