This may be a scam to put the public at ease and make them think they've won, before the Dems put the public option back in the bill - then pass it

Watch the Republicans go for this "compromise!" The current bunch of Republicans love to compromise with the Dems so they get a pat on the back, and favorable coverage on MSNBC



Obama may drop government-run health insurance plan

Sebelius says option is 'not essential'
By Sean Lengell

Monday, August 17, 2009


In the face of strong public criticism at town-hall meetings and skepticism on Capitol Hill, Obama administration officials said Sunday that the president is willing to accept a health care proposal that includes nonprofit health insurance cooperatives rather than insist on a government-run insurance program.

The move was a major concession to conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans that quickly won applause from several lawmakers concerned that reform efforts were being sunk by fears that such a federally subsidized program would lead to a government takeover of health care.

"Look, the fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option. There never have been," Sen. Kent Conrad, North Dakota Democrat, said on "Fox News Sunday." "So to continue to chase that rabbit, I think, is just a wasted effort."

Some prominent liberal Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, reiterated their faith in the public option. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas said it would be "very, very difficult" to win her support for a bill that did not include a public option.

Spokesmen for the top two Republicans on Capitol Hill were cautious when asked for reactions Sunday afternoon.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs appeared on Sunday's political talk shows to say that what the president wants is to introduce competitors to private insurance plans, and whether this is done by a government-run insurance program or private cooperatives is not important.

Mrs. Sebelius said on CNN's "State of the Union" that while President Obama "continues to be very supportive of some options for consumers" in the health insurance market, a government-run, public-option plan is "not the essential element."

"I think the president is just continuing to say, let's not have this be the only focus of the conversation," she said, though she promised that the final version of the bill would improve "choice and competition" for consumers.

"I think there will be a competitor to private insurers," she said. "That's really the essential part ... you don't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. We need some choices; we need some competition

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