Depending on who’s reporting it, compromise on health care reform – especially the polarizing public option – is either dead on arrival or the only way forward.
In Schumer promises public option in healthcare bill, The Hill’s Jeffrey Young pretty much details the deadlock on the public option
“House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) reiterated on Fox News Sunday that the lower chamber’s bill will include a strong public option. ‘We think there’s going to be a public option. Yes, we think we need that. We need to make sure that there is an option available for public that can’t get through at the private insurance. We think that’s essential if you’re going to have access,’ Hoyer said.”
Further down, he quotes House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) saying that a public option would be a deal-breaker for Republicans.
“I think having the government have a plan to compete with the private sector is unfair, because the government has no cost of capital,” Boehner said.
To get to the heart of the irony, Check out the Washington Post’s health care reform team of Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery. On Health Care, The Prognosis Is Compromise draws from the weakened climate change bill that passed the House in June to argue that the table is set and moving forward will likely end up cutting the scope and cost of reform.
“Final versions of legislation rarely live up to the lofty expectations set by drafts — as many on the left might say of the weakened climate-change bill that passed the House last month. The health-care debate may follow a similar trajectory, as policy ideals meet political and fiscal realities, and wholesale reform gives way to a more limited, if still ambitious, bill.”
Good luck finding that compromise.
Tags: health care, healthcare, healthcare reform, Jeffrey Young, Lori Montgomery, public-option, Shailagh Murray, single payer, The Hill, The Washington Post
