Has the White House Abandoned the Public Option?
Comments by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius about the "public option" have garnered a lot of attention, but do they really represent a shift in administration strategy on health care reform?
Yesterday on CNN, Sebelius appeared to back away from the administration's strong push for a government-run health care option when she said that it was "not the essential element" of the health care push.
Instead, Sebelius seemed to indicate that the administration might support nonprofit health insurance co-ops, a proposal which has been discussed in the bipartisan talks by a few members of the Senate Finance Committee.
Sebelius said: "I think there will be a competition to private insurers… That really is the essential part, that you don't turn over the whole new marketplace [after health care legislation is enacted] to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. We need some choices, we need some competition."
Mr. Obama himself seemed to back up Sebelius during his town hall on Saturday in Colorado.
"The public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it. One aspect of it," Mr. Obama said.
The news has riled up liberals who do see the public health insurance plan as the key element to reform. On CBS' "The Early Show" this morning, former Vermont governor and DNC chairman Howard Dean said, "You can't have reform without a public option."
But The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, who is also CBS News' chief political consultant, reports that it's possible the media just overplayed the comments and the administration's position has not changed like the headlines this morning would indicate.
One unnamed administration official told Ambinder that Sebelius just "misspoke" on CNN. The official said her comments were not meant as a change in policy.
Another official told Ambinder that she didn't misspeak, but that "The media misplayed it."
Linda Douglass, director of health reform communications for the administration, also backed up the idea that Mr. Obama still seeks to have the public option as part of the final bill.
"Nothing has changed," she said, Ambinder reports. "The president has always said that what is essential that health insurance reform lower costs, ensure that there are affordable options for all Americans and increase choice and competition in the health insurance market. He believes that the public option is the best way to achieve these goals."
CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller also reports that Deputy Press Secretary Jen Psaki says today the White House did not say that Sebelius "misspoke" yesterday.
"The president believes this option of a government plan is the best way to provide choice and competition," Gibbs said.
But he also said Mr. Obama "will be satisfied" if there is "choice and competition" in the market. That could be read as support for the co-ops, but Ambinder also notes that the White House has "mused favorably about the co-ops before."
Meanwhile, other Democrats continued to debate the chances of the public option as well.
On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Kent Conrad, a leader on the Senate Finance Committee working on the co-op plan, said that there aren't enough votes for the public option in the Senate.
"The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option. There never have been," he said. "So to continue to chase that rabbit I think is just a wasted effort."
But Dean took the opposite view on "The Early Show."
"I don't think it can pass without the public option," Dean said. "There are too many people who understand, including the president himself, the public option is absolutely linked to reform."