White House Signals Willingness To Compromise On Public Plan Option In Health Reform

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 18 Aug 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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The Obama administration signaled over the weekend that it would be willing to accept health reform legislation that does not include a public plan option, a provision long considered the cornerstone of the Democratic health care overhaul, the Washington Post reports (Connolly, Washington Post, 8/17).

In an interview on CNN on Sunday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the public option is "not the essential element" for reform and mentioned the proposal for not-for-profit health cooperatives being developed as an alternative by the Senate Finance Committee. "What's important is choice and competition," Sebelius said, adding, "I'm convinced at the end of the day, the plan will have both of those." During a town-hall meeting on Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo., President Obama said that a public option "is not the entirety of health care reform" but rather "just one sliver of it, one aspect of it."

White House officials have said that Obama has not abandoned a government plan. "The president is going to continue to try to persuade everyone of the great value of having a true public plan," a Democrat who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, adding, "But at the end of the day, I believe he recognizes that there are other, arguably less effective, ways to achieve greater coverage, more choice, better quality and lower cost to our system" (Stolberg, New York Times, 8/17).

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