Health Care

Grijalva Requests Changes To Health Care Bill, Vote On Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 4:22PM

In a curt, terse letter delivered today, public option champion, and progressive caucus co-chair Raul Grijalva says he wants to see some major changes to the House's health care bill--reflected in a so-called manager's amendment--before it comes to the floor.

• Americans in every state in the nation must be able to take advantage of the benefits of the bill; thus the bill shall explicitly state that the public option must be available without any triggers or opt-out provisions.
• If the Secretary is forced to negotiate provider reimbursement rates in the public plan, a ceiling shall be determined and set for such rates.
• The bill shall fully repeal the McCarran Ferguson Act for health and medical malpractice insurance, as oppose to merely amending the Act.

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CBO

Wait A Minute--The Public Option's Premiums Would Be Higher On Average?

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 2:11PM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and CBO Director Doug Elmendorf

Health care reformers have a number of arguments for the public option, but the main one is this: that by injecting fairness and competition into the market the public option will lower premiums for everybody, including those paying for private plans. Unfortunately, a new CBO study finds that it may not have that effect at all.

The theory behind the public option is that, by injecting a major non-profit insurer into the marketplace, it will force private competitors to cut down on administrative waste and other excesses, and, therefore, drive premiums down for everybody. Last week, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on the verge of losing the fight for a muscular public option, she said "There's no philosophical difference between a robust public option and negotiated rates. It's just a difference in money."

But is that true? Yesterday, in an analysis of House health care legislation, the CBO concluded that the six million people expected to enroll in the public option by 2019 will be paying, on average, higher premiums than will people buying private plans.

"[A] plan paying negotiated rates would attract a broad network of providers but would typically have premiums that are somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges," wrote CBO chief Doug Elmendorf.

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Barack Obama

Luntz Memo: Obama Not So Popular...But Don't Attack Obama!

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 11:46AM

A new Frank Luntz strategy memo may provide some insight into the Republican's playbook as the fight over reform enters its final stages.

The memo, which you can read here, is one of many similar memos that have been circulated to politicians and activists over the last several months, including by Luntz himself.

In his previous memo, Luntz warned conservatives not to tie health care reform efforts to President Obama--the President's name, he warned, helped buoy the overall level of support for reform. Luntz now says that's not true--but he nonetheless counsels reform opponents not to use the term 'Obamacare.'

"[y]ou can talk about opposing "President Obama's Plan," Luntz writes. "But don't. While you no-longer [sic] shoot yourself in the foot by criticizing the President, you would do much better to criticize Congress."

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Joe Lieberman

Reid's Office On Lieberman Campaigning For Republicans: We're Focused On Health Care

Eric Kleefeld | October 30, 2009, 11:38AM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

We asked Jim Manley, the spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, whether Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) position in the Democratic caucus was still secure, in light of his declaration that he will probably campaign for some Republican candidates in the 2010 election -- or as Lieberman said, "I'm going to call them as I see them."

Manley told us: "Senator Lieberman may call them as he see's them, but for Senator Reid, the only thing that he is focused on right now is delivering on the president's promise of comprehensive health care reform."

Blanche Lincoln

Poll: Arkansas Voters Disagree With Lincoln's Public Option Skepticism

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 10:29AM

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

The trend continues: a new Research 2000 poll, commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America, finds that a Democrat from a red state may not be doing herself any favors by standing in the way of a public option.

The poll asked Arkansans "Would you favor or oppose the government offering everyone a government administered health insurance plan -- something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get -- that would compete with private health insurance plans?"

The findings are in line with other statewide and national polls that find the public option to be broadly popular. 56 favor, 37 oppose.

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Filibuster

Harkin, Again, Hints At Consequences For Off-The-Reservation Chairmen

Brian Beutler | October 30, 2009, 9:17AM

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)--chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee is rare among senior Senate Democrats. Whereas many in the party view seniority as akin to tenure, Harkin thinks it should come with responsibility. And when powerful chairmen stray, he doesn't keep quiet.

"[Lieberman] still wants to be a part of the Democratic Party although he is a registered independent," Harkin said. "He wants to caucus with us and, of course, he enjoys his chairmanship of the [Homeland Security] committee because of the indulgence of the Democratic Caucus. So, I'm sure all of those things will cross his mind before the final vote."

Lieberman suggested this week that he'll filibuster health care reform legislation if it includes a public option.

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Health Care

Obama Meeting With Progressives, Key Caucus Leaders: 'Productive'

Christina Bellantoni | October 30, 2009, 9:10AM

President Barack Obama in Roosevelt Room

President Obama last night spent about an hour with leaders of several key Democratic caucuses talking about health care.

TPMDC waited to talk to members as they left the evening meeting, but it got started late so leaders of the Progressive, Black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific American caucuses hurried out instead of speaking to reporters.

A senior administration official tells us this morning:

It was a productive meeting that lasted for about an hour. The President congratulated the members on working so hard to get a meaningful reform bill put together in the House. They talked about strategies for ensuring choice and competition, expanding coverage, controlling costs, ensuring that minority health is addressed, and discussed the road forward.

Health Care

Conrad: House Health Care Bill Much Improved

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 6:48PM

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) let it be known in numerous ways that early versions of the House health care bill would not meet his budgetary muster. Now, with CBO saying the House bill is a long term deficit reducer, Conrad has some very kind words for it.

"Much improved," Conrad told me. "It's now paid for, has deficit reduction over the first 10, and savings over the second 10...that's a big improvement. I commend the House. They've made significant strides and they deserve credit for it."

"They did make this sound from a budgetary standpoint, far more sound, and in terms of the public option, they no longer have it tied to Medicare levels of reimbursement which is, as I see it, terribly unfair to the low reimbursement states," he added.

One consequence of not tying the public option to Medicare? The CBO predicts that average premiums will be higher in the public option than in private plans.

Health Care

House Will Vote On Health Care Before Veterans' Day

Rachel Slajda | October 29, 2009, 6:40PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

In a conference call this afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote on health care reform before the Veterans' Day holiday.

Pelosi said next Thursday, Nov. 5, is the "theoretically earliest date" the vote could take place.

Health Care

CBO Says House Health Care Bill Is Deficit Reducer In Near And Long Term

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 4:47PM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and CBO Director Doug Elmendorf

The CBO has weighed in with a preliminary cost estimate of the House's health care bill--and there are almost certainly some very happy people in House leadership.

At $894 billion, the bill's 10 year cost comes in a hair under President Obama's $900 billion red line. But, more politically and substantively important, the bill is projected to reduce the deficit in both the first 10 years and the second 10 years after enactment, just as Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) told me earlier today.

Over the first 10 years, revenues and savings are projected to exceed new spending (aka it reduces the deficit) by $104 billion. Projections into the following decade are, as CBO chief Doug Elmendorf always notes, very dicey. But Elmendorf says that, from 2020-2029, "the added revenues and cost savings are projected to grow slightly more rapidly than the cost of the coverage expansions." In other words, though the government will pay more and more each year in subsidies and expanded entitlements, it will be realizing savings and collecting revenues at a greater rate.

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Health Care

Pelosi Mum On Obama's Support For The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 4:10PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was mum today about her level of confidence in the White House's commitment to the public option going forward.

On a conference call with reporters and bloggers this afternoon, I asked Pelosi whether, given recent reports about the President Obama's reluctance to push for a public option in the Senate, she was confident he'd be supportive of the measure going forward.

Pelosi said she's been too busy to gauge the White House's commitment to the public option, but suggested that Obama may need to be a bit more persuaded of its political viability if he's going to throw his weight behind it.

"I guess I'm just so busy with what I'm doing that I'm not worrying about what somebody else is doing, and I have confidence in the President of the United States. He wants the strongest best possible bill that will work for the American people. And we have to convince him that what will pass in the Congress is something similar to what we have in the House," Pelosi said

Pelosi acknowledged that a more robust public option--one with payment rates tied to Medicare--was always a long shot in Congress.

"We knew the Senate was not going to that place if even Senator Kennedy was not going in that place," Pelosi said, referring to the fact that an early version of Senate legislation contained a public option with negotiated rates similar to the one she unveiled today.

But that's about as low as she's willing to go. "I don't see any way to go less than that, as good as it is."

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Health Care

Democrats Fundraise Off 'Strong' Public Option In The Health Care Bill

Christina Bellantoni | October 29, 2009, 3:26PM

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

A few hours after the House Democrats dropped their health care plan, and as they are still counting votes on whether it has enough support, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is raising money on the public option that's included in the bill.

The fundraising email subject line sure is attention getting: "Breaking News: Strong Public Option Introduced."

In the message to DCCC supporters, Chairman Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) lauds the health care plan and thanks Democrats for standing up and speaking out. And then he asks for more cash:

"Now that we've taken this historic step, the media, pundits, and defenders of the status quo are wondering, "How will you respond?" Help us raise $50,000 by MIDNIGHT TONIGHT to send a powerful message that the American people stand behind a strong public option and comprehensive health care reform."

Full email after the jump.

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Health Care

House Democrats Whipping Their Bill

Christina Bellantoni | October 29, 2009, 2:47PM

TPMDC has learned that House Democrats are whipping the new health care bill Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced this morning.

Here's the text of the question Democratic members must respond to this afternoon.

WHIP QUESTION:

Will you support passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act?

RESPONSE DEADLINE: TODAY at 3:00PM

***Please send your response to your assigned Regional Whip
NO LATER than 3:00pm TODAY***

The Affordable Health Care for America Act
Bill Summary

***The full text of the legislation will be available on the website of the Committee on Rules: http://www.rules.house.gov/ ***

***The attached document compares the Affordable Health Care for America Act to H.R. 3200, as introduced***

Health Care

House GOP Knows What It Doesn't Want In A Health Care Bill, Won't Yet Say What It Does

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 29, 2009, 1:59PM

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)

House Republicans slammed the new Democratic health care reform bill this morning, but didn't say when or if they'll be offering a reform package of their own.

GOP leader John Boehner led a press conference to voice his concerns about the bill an hour or so after Pelosi was done presenting it outside. He walked carrying the nearly 2,000 page house bill, which he dropped with a thud onto the podium.

"Through August and September, the American people made it clear they want know part of a government-run system for providing health care," he said. "[But] this bill amounts to a government takeover of our health care system."

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Health Care

Grijalva Continues Push For Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 1:59PM

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)--co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus--was not in attendance at today's health care bill unveiling. But his office sends over the following quote, suggesting that he plans to continue his push for a strong public option, even though the base House bill doesn't go as far as he'd like.

"I am not rolling over. I will insist on a Medicare-plus-five amendment on the Floor so that the full Caucus can vote on it. We are hopeful that the Rules Committee will allow this amendment, which has tremendous public support, to be voted on for the record."

Grijalva has been leading the charge in the House for a robust public option, suggesting that progressives might defect from the final bill if the plan isn't tied to Medicare reimbursement rates. We'll keep an eye out for his next move.

Health Care

TPMDC Video: Costumed Anti-Abortion Protesters Heckle Congressional Staffers

Christina Bellantoni | October 29, 2009, 1:50PM

Anti-abortion groups regularly station morning protesters at the Capitol South Metro stop on the House side of the Capitol building as staffers head into work. Today they went with a Halloween theme, dressed as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Harry Reid covered in blood and chained together.

TPMDC was on the scene and captured some video of the group as they orchestrated a scene of Pelosi and Reid being tortured by demons thanks to (presumably) supporting abortion. They also were opposed to the health care bill revealed today.

"Staffers, Hill rats, join Nancy Pelosi in hell!" they shouted as Metro riders walked by. They also shouted they wanted to "Kill the bill, not babies."

I took a few photos and shot the video you can watch after the jump.

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Health Care

AHIP 'Concerned' About House Health Reform Bill

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 29, 2009, 12:54PM

AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni

The health insurance lobby says it's worried about the health care bill proposed by Nancy Pelosi this morning, but says it's willing to work with Democrats to find a solution the industry says "will cover all Americans, make coverage more affordable, and improve quality."

AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni offered the industry's take on the House bill shortly after it was announced by Pelosi on the steps of the Capitol.

"The promise of health care reform has been that if you like your current coverage, you can keep it," she said. "We are concerned that this proposal will break this promise by increasing health care costs for families and employers across the country and significantly disrupting the quality coverage on which millions of Americans rely today."

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Health Care

Democrats Optimistic, Progressives Coming To Terms, On Health Care Bill

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 12:22PM

Before House Democrats unveiled their health care bill, the caucus huddled in the basement of the Capitol to get fired up. As the meeting broke, Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) darted down the hall and a reporter asked him how many votes he had.

"All we need," Clyburn shouted back, cheekily.

Inside the caucus room, members broke into applause.

Unsurprisingly, optimism was the theme of the morning among House Democrats, though some progressives aren't completely pleased with the outcome.

Rep Lynne Woolsey (D-CA)--co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus--said, emphatically, that when she and other liberal leaders meet with the President tonight, she wants to hear him say "that he supports a strong public option and he will take that over to the Senate." As for whether she can support the bill in the House with a somewhat weakened public option, Woolsey told me she needs to learn more.

"We're looking at what they've put in the bill to make up for it not being Medicare-plus-five, to see if it covers...our same goals," she said.

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Health Care

Obama Offers Praise For House Health Care Bill And Cites 'Strong Consensus'

Christina Bellantoni | October 29, 2009, 11:51AM

President Barack Obama

The White House sends over a lengthy statement from President Obama on the house health care bill.

He says he's sure there will be more debate but congratulated Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House leadership for "countless hours of hard work" and for forging "a strong consensus that represents a historic step forward."

Compare that with the White House response to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's reveal Monday. Obama was "pleased" with public option but not as effusive in that statement.

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NRCC

GOP: Pelosi Driving Dem House Members Off A Cliff

Eric Kleefeld | October 29, 2009, 11:27AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

NRCC communications director Ken Spain released this statement on the House Democrats' unveiling of their health care bill, making it clear that the GOP will try to keep on using this issue as a cudgel against Democrats in swing districts:

"The lasting image coming out of today's press conference is one of dozens of House Democrats standing proudly behind an incredibly unpopular Nancy Pelosi as she prepares to lead them off a political cliff. Not only will the Democrats' government takeover of healthcare lead to increased costs, higher taxes, and cuts to Medicare, it also feeds into the emerging narrative that Nancy Pelosi and her puppets are more interested in creating government even if it comes at the expense of creating jobs."

Tea Party

The Mob That Wasn't Greets Arrival Of Pelosi Bill

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 29, 2009, 11:16AM

It certainly wasn't the "flash mob" organizers were hoping for, but a small but determined group of Tea Party Patriots gathered on the Capitol Lawn this morning to protest the announcement of a final House health care reform bill.

TPMDC counted about 10 Tea Partiers holding signs denouncing a "government takeover" of health care and looking with disdain as House Democrats gathered on the Capitol Steps. They stood in a larger group of protesters from other groups, mostly focused on abortion rights.

Joann Abbott, a grandmother from Northern Virginia, made the drive to the protest this morning after seeing the email sent by Tea Party leaders last night. When asked if she was part of the "flash mob," she laughed. "I'm here on my own," she said, looking around at the scattered protesters around her. "If this is organized, we suck."

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Health Care

If The Dems Make A Health Care Bill, Will The Tea-Partiers Come?

Eric Kleefeld | October 29, 2009, 9:58AM

Protesters at the 9/12 Tea Party March on Washington

Today is a big day on Capitol Hill, featuring the rollout of the House Democrats' health care bill -- and possibly a Tea Party protest against it.

An e-mail was sent out last night on the Tea Party Patriots e-mail list, asking anyone within driving distance of Washington to head to the Capitol at 10 a.m., the scheduled time for the unveiling of the House health care bill.

The event has also been described in conservative Twitter-land, including Erick Erickson, as a "flash mob."

So will a bunch of people show up? Let's see what happens.

Check out the full e-mail after the jump.

Read more »

Health Care

Obama Meeting With Progressives And Key Democratic Caucus Groups On Health Care

Christina Bellantoni | October 29, 2009, 9:50AM

After House Democrats reveal their version of the health care bill this morning on the Capitol steps, President Obama later this afternoon will hold a private meeting with some of the most key groups he must keep united to pass a plan.

The White House says Obama will gather in the Roosevelt Room with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

As TPMDC has written, Obama's relations with these groups have not always been warm. Progressives were irritated the conservative Blue Dog Democrats were hosted at the White House to discuss health care last month.

On an unrelated note, we're wondering if Obama will discuss with the members of the minority caucuses the accusations from Republican lawmakers that the Council on American Islamic Relations planted spies on Capitol Hill as interns.

Health Care

Pelosi To Unveil Health Care Bill This Morning--To Crowd Of Tea Partiers?

Brian Beutler | October 29, 2009, 9:14AM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

As announced yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats will unveil the health care bill they plan to bring to the floor this morning. The long awaited legislation will come in at under $900 billion. Like the Senate bill, its public option will reimburse providers at negotiated rates--though unlike in the Senate bill, states will not be allowed to opt out.

Pelosi had pushed in recent days for a more robust public option, which would have saved more money. To make up for those lost savings, the House bill will lower the Medicaid threshold to 150 percent of the poverty line (it was originally expected to cover everybody below 133 percent of poverty).

The employer and individual mandates will be more robust than in the Senate bill, and, as a result, the bill is expected to cover millions more Americans. The $900 billion will be covered by a mix of taxes on high-income earners, industry contributions and savings wrung from existing government health care programs. That means it will not expand the deficit for at least the first 10 years.

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Health Care

The High Drama Behind Reid's Public Option Decision

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 6:40PM

Today, everyone's officially on the same page. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and his leadership team, and the White House all stand behind the Senate health care bill, which, as we learned this week, includes a public option. But the days leading up to Reid's big Monday announcement were perhaps more trying for leading Democrats than has been publicly acknowledged, or than today's picture of calm would lead you to believe.

Much of the hoopla surrounding Reid's decision centers around a tense Thursday night meeting between President Obama and Senate health care principals--including Reid and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)--at the White House. But according to sources briefed on White House-Senate health care negotiations, things began boiling over earlier in the week, when a key question was, Who's going to take the blame when the public option doesn't make it in to the base health care bill?

According to a source briefed on White House-Senate health care negotiations, the public option's saving grace was its political popularity with the Democratic base. The source described the back and forth between Senate health care principals and the White House as a "sort of stare down where the two sides were saying, 'you be the face of pulling it out.' Reid wants Obama to do it to give cover to his caucus, Obama wants Reid to do it so he's not the bad guy on the public option, and can still walk away with a win with reform, with bipartisanship, and with a card for everybody running for re-election."

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Health Care

Governors (And Candidates) Span Spectrum On Public Option Opt-Out

Christina Bellantoni | October 28, 2009, 6:38PM

President Obama addresses National Governors Association

It's been two days since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a health care bill with a public option that will allow states to opt-out.

As TPMDC wrote earlier, we still don't know the mechanism for how the states would get out (or in, if that were to happen) of the public option, but we took stock of some of the candidates for governor in Tuesday's races.

Our question: Would your state opt out of a public option?

The basic tally:

In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine (D) would not. Challenger Chris Christie (R) would.

In Virginia, Bob McDonnell (R) would opt out and Creigh Deeds (D) is leaning toward opting out.

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Health Care

White House Disputes Lieberman On The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 5:16PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

A lot of people in Sen. Joe Lieberman's former party are now stepping up to set the record straight, and say they don't agree with his analysis of the impact of the public option.

At the White House briefing today, a reporter asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs whether he agrees with Lieberman, who says both that a public option will cost tax payers dearly, and drive up the cost of health insurance for everybody else--positions that are disputed widely by experts.

Gibbs was pretty direct: "I think we would disagree and I think elements of the Congressional Budget Office would disagree with the analysis that Senator Lieberman has made."

In making those statements, he joins other high profile Democrats who also dispute Lieberman's position. However, though Democrats don't agree with Lieberman, none have publicly chastised him for going rogue yesterday. According to Sam Stein of the Huffington Post, this is reflective of Senate leadership's strategy of winning over the Connecticut senator without pushing back too hard and, perhaps, entrenching his opposition to health care reform.

Jeff Flake

Jeff Flake's Wise Explanation Of Vote Against Honoring Confucius

Eric Kleefeld | October 28, 2009, 4:45PM

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) released this statement today, giving some precious wisdom in explaining why he voted against honoring the ancient Chinese sage Confucius:

Congressman Flake Releases Statement Regarding His Vote Against Honoring the 2560th Birthday of Confucius

Washington, D.C., Oct 28 - Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona's Sixth District, today released the following statement regarding his vote against H.Res.784, a bill "honoring the 2560th anniversary of the birth of Confucius and recognizing his invaluable contributions to philosophy and social and political thought."

"He who spends time passing trivial legislation may find himself out of time to read healthcare bill," said Flake.

Heh. Heh.

Health Care

CBO Score Of Senate Health Care Bill May Be Delayed As Questions Remain

Christina Bellantoni | October 28, 2009, 3:09PM

Fmr. CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin

Senate Democrats are worried they may be delayed debating the merged health care bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent to the Congressional Budget Office Monday while they wait for the CBO to score the measure.

Roll Call is reporting (sub. req.) that senators are concerned the score may not be available for another week and a half, which would postpone the debate beginning late next week.

As Brian detailed yesterday, there are plenty of unanswered questions about the bill.

TPMDC interviewed former CBO chief Doug Holtz-Eakin, who served as an economic adviser to the McCain campaign last year.

"It's so unclear to me what actually is being proposed," he told us, adding he was surprised any senators have been able to take sides since the details are scarce. "There are a million questions."

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Chuck Schumer

Key Democratic Senators Correct Lieberman On The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 3:06PM

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Key public option supporters in the Senate Democratic Caucus pushed back today on different objections raised by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to the idea of including a public option in health care reform.

"I think one of the problems the leader is working through...is that there have been a number of theories about what a public option is that have been kicked around," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in response to a question from TPMDC. "On the Senate side, in the [HELP] Committee, we chose to...make sure that these public options were self sustaining."

Lieberman has suggested both that the public option would be a drain on taxpayers, and that it would drive up private insurance premiums, in contrast to the findings of most experts.

"I think there's a bit of a function of trying to make sure that everybody's clear exactly what it is that we're proposing," Whitehouse said. "I think once the actual text of the bill is out and it's clear that the HELP language is what was adopted. I think we'll be successfully able to make the case to Senator Lieberman that there is not a subsidy here and it is not an entitlement."

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) added his own two cents as well.

Read more »

Health Care

Report: House Health Care Bill Unveiled Tomorrow

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 3:04PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Rumors have been swirling all day, and now ABC is reporting that House leaders will unveil their health care bill at a morning press conference tomorrow.

Of the specifics that were still up in the air, the bill reportedly: will not include a robust public option, as recent signs have been indicating; will cost about $900 billion--in line with President Obama's mark; will cover several million more people than the Senate Finance Committee's bill will; and will be paid for, in large part, with a 5.4 percent surtax on high income families and individuals.

Stay tuned for more details as they emerge.

Joe Lieberman

CORRECTED: Lieberman Proposed Public Option In 2004, Opposes It Now

Eric Kleefeld | October 28, 2009, 2:56PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

[CORRECTION: We have been told that Joe's program here was not properly termed a public option, but was two different concepts -- an expansion of government-run health care programs for the young, extending it up to age 25, and the creation of private health care exchanges in order to create a competitive, organized marketplace. So to be blunt, we bungled this one. TPM regrets the error.]

Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) seems to have seriously changed his position on a public health insurance program -- from supporting it years ago, to staunchly opposing it now.

Back when Lieberman was a full-fledged Democrat and sought the party's nomination for President, he said this at a debate in South Carolina on January 29, 2004:

"And one of the things we will do when we're one nation is to end the moral outrage of 44 million people without health insurance in the richest country in the world, nine million children whose parents can't take them to the doctor when they get sick 'cause they can't pay the bill. I'm gonna do that, and also help the millions who have insurance that can't pay it, by creating national health insurance pools like the ones members of Congress get our insurance from.

"Promises: When you're born, child in America, you get a membership card, and MediKids covers your insurance. Two, if you lose your job, you will not lose your health insurance. Three, underemployed, self-employed, small business, you can buy into this plan, it'll cost you a lot less, and incidentally, you'll get drug benefits with it. That's the kind of centrist leadership that produces results, and that's the kind of president America needs and I'll be."

(Transcript via Nexis)

Back then, Joe Lieberman was presenting the public option as a sensible, centrist plan for the country. But now he's promising to filibuster a Democratic proposal to establish one. So what changed?

We've placed a call with Lieberman's office, but they have not yet gotten back to us.

Health Care

Gibbs Says Obama Hasn't Talked To Reid And Calls Lieberman Questions 'Hypothetical'

Christina Bellantoni | October 28, 2009, 1:38PM

White House Press Sec. Robert Gibbs

President Obama hasn't talked to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the last few days since the votes for the health care bill seemed to fall away on Capitol Hill.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters this afternoon Obama last spoke with Reid last week when leadership huddled with him here.

Reporters - including TPMDC - sort of ganged up on Gibbs to pin him down, but he dismissed questions about Sen. Joe Lieberman's stance on the public option and a potential filibuster as hypotheticals.

"I'm not going to judge the end of this process by what people say today," Gibbs said.

He cited Lieberman (I-CT) saying today that he would vote for the motion to bring the health care bill to the floor, adding "That's the first part of the process."

Reporters reminded him the filibuster part is a bit more important, and Gibbs interrupted, "Can't get to the second before you get to the first."

Asked if Obama and Lieberman have spoken, Gibbs said he wasn't sure the last time.

"The legislative affairs team is in touch with many on Capitol Hill," he said.

Gibbs also went into where things stand with health care.

Read more »

Health Care

Is AARP The GOP's New ACORN?

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 28, 2009, 1:28PM

AARP logo, GOP logo

The GOP's new line of attack against health care reform is starting to sound familiar.

On Monday, we reported on the House GOP's plans to target AARP in the health care reform debate. Republican leaders say AARP is supporting changes to the Medicare system included in Democratic health care reform bills because they would result in more sales of AARP-branded insurance. They claim that "backroom deals" between executives of the AARP and Democratic leadership -- deals the GOP say are designed to protect the executives' high salaries -- led to the group's pro-Medicare reform stance.

Yesterday, the message gained traction among the right wing commentariat. AARP flatly denies the claims and says it's beginning to feel a little like the GOP's new ACORN.

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Health Care

Clash Of Titans: Rove, Dean Debate Health Care At Penn State

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 28, 2009, 11:28AM

Frmr, Sr. Advisor/Deputy Chief of Staff to Pres. George W. Bush Karl Rove and DNC Chairman Howard Dean (D-VT)

It may not have been held in an octagon, but a debate last night at Penn State between Karl Rove and Howard Dean was still a rhetorical brawl, according to reports. The pair clashed over the basic battle lines of the reform debate, with Dean arguing that a public option is "imperative" for reform's success, and Rove claiming the entire Democratic reform model is sure to drag the country in to debt, despair and destruction.

Overall it was a "cerebral" affair, according to the AP. But the crowd wanted fireworks, and they made sure they got their wish.

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Chris Dodd

Key Senators React To Lieberman's Fuzzy Public Option Logic

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 9:32AM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

One of the most puzzling things about Sen. Joe Lieberman's opposition to the public option is that he says it's based in a belief that a new government "entitlement" will end up being a large burden on taxpayers. In fact, the public option will be paid into (i.e. not subsidized like an entitlement) and the vast consensus among experts, partisan and non-partisan, is that a public option will save the government lots of loot. Moreover, they conclude that the bigger the plan is, the more money it will save.

Yesterday, I asked Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Lieberman's Connecticut colleague Chris Dodd (D-CT) what they thought of Lieberman's backward thinking.

Singing the praises of her preferred 'trigger' solution, Snowe said "[triggers] obviously can have a maximum impact...certainly, not as comparable to a full public option and what they want, but on the other hand what you're doing with the public option is basically crowding out the private sector, because of the government's, you know, inordinate advantage in the market place."

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Health Care

Snowe Pessimistic About Triggers

Brian Beutler | October 28, 2009, 9:13AM

Yesterday Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said he'd filibuster a health care bill if it contains a public option. Many reporters and analysts took this as a sign that an alternative political strategy of courting Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who prefers the public option only as a fall back, would re-emerge.

Well, Snowe herself disagrees.

"I don't see how you get to 60 [votes to replace the public option with a trigger]," Snowe told reporters last night.

Having a public option in the bill, she said, will "make it infinitely more difficult to change that on the floor...I just don't see how that works."

For what it's worth, Lieberman also said he opposes the trigger option yesterday, too. So he's not necessarily making a public push to get Snowe back into the game.

Health Care

House Still Shy On Votes For Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 5:59PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Greg Sargent's numbers are right: "47 House Dems are committed No votes, and eight are Leaning No," on a health care bill if it includes a public option, preferred by reformers, that pays providers Medicare rates plus five percent.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can only afford to lose a maximum of 38 votes in her own party, and she's still well over that. Nobody I've asked has gone so far as to say this is the end of the road for the so-called "robust" public option, but it's certainly not a good sign.

This morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he was fairly confident a more modest public option, using negotiated rates, would win out in a vote count.

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Health Care

Sen. Hagan: 'Closely' Looking At Health Care Bill, Still Worried About Deficit

Christina Bellantoni | October 27, 2009, 5:13PM

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC)

Freshman Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) told reporters today she will be "looking very closely" at the health care bill as proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

On a conference call with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about rural health care, Hagan reiterated she supports "a backstop option for people that don't have access to employer-sponsored health care."

"I'm going to definitely be looking very closely at this bill to see exactly what's in it," Hagan said. "I am committed to working with my colleagues on a final reform bill that hopefully is going to bring stability and security to American families and is not going to add one dime to our federal deficit."

Reporters also asked about the TPMMuckraker scoop yesterday about Blue Cross mailers asking customers to lobby Hagan to oppose the public option.

Transcript after the jump.

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Health Care

Baucus Calm In Face Of Lieberman Threat To Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 5:06PM

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT)

After a meeting of Senate Finance Committee Democrats in his office this afternoon, chairman Max Baucus sought to contain the fallout from Sen. Joe Lieberman's statement today that he'd be inclined to filibuster a health care bill with a public option in it.

"A lot of this now is in Sen. Reid's hands--I certainly would expect [for the bill to proceed to debate]," Baucus said.

I think he's quite close, and there's time yet. I think some senators are not definitely decided because they want to see the CBO report. They want to look at CBO's cost estimates, coverage estimates, effect on premiums, etc., before they make up their minds. Once the CBO report comes out--at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later--it's going to be positive. And once it's positive, I think we'll find a lot more senators inclined to get on the bill.

For a time line of conflicting Lieberman statements on the public option, see here. For a rundown of his previous willingness not to obstruct legislation, see here.

Mitch McConnell

McConnell Says A Vote For Cloture Is A Vote For Health Care Reform

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 27, 2009, 4:51PM

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made clear today what the GOP has been suggesting for months: moderate Democratic senators fearful that voting for health care reform will cost them their seats (think Blanche Lincoln) can't get away with voting for cloture and against a bill on the floor.

At a press conference this afternoon, McDonnell compared the idea to another tortured line that cost a Democrat an election. "We all recall Senator Kerry's strained way in the 2004 campaign of explaining why he voted for it before he voted against it," McConnell said. "And I think it is perfectly clear that most Americans will treat the vote to get on the bill as a vote on the substance of the bill."

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Health Care

WH On Lieberman: 'We're Pleased The Process Is Moving Forward'

Christina Bellantoni | October 27, 2009, 4:17PM

White House Spokesperson Linda Douglass

I've been after the White House for several hours for a response to Sen. Joe Lieberman saying he'd back a filibuster on health care.

This just in, from spokeswoman Linda Douglass:

"We're pleased the process is moving forward. The Majority Leader has spoken with all of the members of his caucus and will continue to work with them to address their concerns as the bill is refined and he prepares to take it to the floor."

Coupled with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs saying constituents will hold lawmakers accountable, it is clear there's no hard line yet from the White House.

Lots of readers are writing in to ask about President Obama's support for Lieberman during his 2006 primary when he was booted from the Democratic party, and about when Obama urged Senate leadership to let the independent retain his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee. The White House hasn't mentioned it.

Meanwhile, if you call Lieberman's Senate office and try to leave him a message, "The mailbox belonging to Senator Lieberman's office is full. To disconnect press one."

Olympia Snowe

Snowe: I'll Block The Health Care Bill If I Have To

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 27, 2009, 4:05PM

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has already suggested she won't vote for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's health care bill if it comes to the floor. Now she says she could prevent it from getting there in the first place.

The AP reports, Snowe will vote with the GOP to filibuster the bill "unless changes are made" to Reid's plan.

Health Care

House Dems: Nobody Leaves Until We Get Health Care

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 27, 2009, 3:43PM

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

House leaders on both sides of the aisle are advising their members to prepare to work straight through November on a health care bill, suggesting House Democrats think Senate action will come sooner rather than later.

"The Democrat Leadership intends to keep the House in session as long as necessary in order to facilitate passage of Health Insurance Reform legislation," an assistant to GOP leader John Boehner wrote in an email to the Republican caucus this afternoon.

Majority leader Steny Hoyer sent a similar message to his members today. "The House will meet beyond the targeted adjournment date as we continue to advance health insurance reform legislation and other matters," he wrote.

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Health Care

Gibbs On Filibuster Possibility: Dems And GOP Alike 'Will Be Held Accountable By Their Constituents'

Christina Bellantoni | October 27, 2009, 3:33PM

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

On Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs wasn't sweating the news that Democrats and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) may not be coming through on the Senate health care bill.

Gibbs said he hadn't seen the reports about Lieberman saying he'd support a filibuster, but added, "I think Democrats and Republicans alike will be held accountable by their constituents who want to see health care reform enacted this year."

"I haven't seen the report from Senator Lieberman or why he's saying what he's saying," he said, citing polls showing support for health care. "And we know that if that doesn't happen, people say they'll be very disappointed by that, and we think people will make progress to ensure that this gets done."

Gibbs said President Obama hasn't been making specific calls yet but, "I'm sure we'll get involved in due time."

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Health Care

Reid: Lieberman Is The Least Of My Problems

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 2:48PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid addressed a development, first reported by TPMDC, that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will filibuster a health care bill if it includes a public option.

"Joe Lieberman is the least of Harry Reid's problems," Reid told reporters at his weekly press conference.

During a Q&A session with reporters, Reid offered a fairly spirited defense of Lieberman, signaling perhaps that he doesn't believe Lieberman will ultimately be an obstacle--or at least that he doesn't want to tip his hat: "I don't have anyone that I've worked harder with, have more respect for, in the Senate than Joe Lieberman. As you know, he's my friend. There are a lot of senators--Democrat and Republicans--who don't like [parts of this bill]... Sen. Lieberman will let us get on the bill, and he'll be involved in the amendment process."

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Health Care

Bayh: I Can Imagine Reid's Bill Failing

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 2:09PM

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN)

The temperature taking of Senate moderates continues. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) doesn't think of the public option as a high-priority issue. But I asked him whether, in conversations with his fellow moderates, he's gotten the sense that a health care bill with an opt-out public option might get snagged up before it comes to the floor.

He was pretty blunt. "Yeah, I think that's possible." His own chief concern, he says, is the deficit. "But for me, if there are things in here that would substantially explode the deficit in the out years, I would feel so strongly about that, that it would be difficult for me to vote go to the bill without that having been corrected, because once you've done that you've given up, really, your ability to have a significant impact on the outcome."

Health Care

End Game: So When Will Health Care Really Happen?

Christina Bellantoni | October 27, 2009, 2:03PM

The House voting, the Senate voting

Yesterday's events have given health care new momentum, but advocates are a long way from popping champagne.

There remain unanswered questions about how the proposed Senate bill and public option opt-out will be structured, along with questions about its final cost and how the government will pay for it.

A Democratic aide told TPMDC today the House is aiming to have its bill on the floor in early November with a vote by Nov. 11, Veterans' Day.

The Senate has several stages ahead - a CBO score for the merged bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced yesterday and then an agreement for what amendments will be allowed. It will be on the floor for debate in the next two weeks.

Once each bill passes its chamber, private negotiations will produce a conference report that will get another House and Senate vote.

Translation: there may be snow on the ground in D.C. before anything finally heads to President Obama's desk.

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Public Option

Lincoln Still Opposes Public Option, But Won't Say How She'll Vote

Rachel Slajda | October 27, 2009, 1:51PM

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

The Associated Press reports that Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) spoke about the public option today, saying "We don't need to go there," but wouldn't say if she'd vote to block the health care reform bill from the Senate floor.

Although Lincoln has repeatedly voiced opposition to the public option, she hasn't committed to voting against cloture. The bill will likely need all 60 members of the Democratic caucus to break a Republican filibuster.

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Health Care

Dem Leaders Lobbying Centrists One By One, Durbin Says

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 27, 2009, 1:35PM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Senate Majority Leader's deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), says his boss has been holding one-on-one meetings with centrists in order to ensure a 60 vote majority for the health care reform package he announced yesterday.

The Hill reports:

"Harry has been literally sitting down face to face with senator after senator, working through these differences," [Durbin] said.

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Filibuster

Lieberman: Sure, I'd Filibuster A Health Care Reform Bill With A Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 1:25PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters today that he would in fact filibuster any health care bill he doesn't agree with--and right now, he doesn't agree with the public option proposal making its way through the Senate.

"I told Senator Reid that I'm strongly inclined--i haven't totally decided, but I'm strongly inclined--to vote to proceed to the health care debate, even though I don't support the bill that he's bringing together because it's important that we start the debate on health care reform because I want to vote for health care reform this year. But I also told him that if the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage. Therefore I will try to stop the passage of the bill."

There are two procedural issues at play here. Most people think of a filibuster as a minority blocking passage of a bill that's already been debated ad nauseum on the Senate floor. That's the most standard filibuster. But on major legislation, it's become more common for the minority--in this case the Republicans--to object to the majority getting a chance to debate legislation in the first place. If any one of them objects to the so-called motion to proceed, it will take 60 votes just to start the amendment and debate process. That's a less-discussed filibuster, but it's quite plausible that this health care bill will have to contend with it.

Lieberman is saying that he's pretty much OK with letting senators offer amendments--try to change the legislation, move it in any direction they deem necessary. But when that process is all over, and Harry Reid wants to hold an up or down vote on the final product, Lieberman's saying he'll join that filibuster, if he's not happy with the finished product. Point blank.

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Health Care

Devil In The Details: How Would An "Opt-Out" Public Option Actually Work?

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 1:21PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

We now know that the Senate is making an end run for a public option that gives states a chance to opt out. We also know that Majority Leader Harry Reid is still a handful of votes shy of the 60 he will likely need to pass the overall bill, if it contains the opt out plan.

But how exactly does the opt out work? Senate leaders are mum about the policy details, as they await the CBO to report back a cost estimate. But, after conversations with experts and lawmakers over the past several days, we can take a look at some of the key variables, about which we'll have more information in the coming days.

Yesterday, Reid suggested--though without elaborating, and with substantial lack of clarity--that states will be allowed to opt out starting in 2014.

At a news conference, a reporter asked Reid, "Can states opt out immediately or is there a period of time where they have to," participate in the public plan? He responded, but his answer may have obscured more than it elucidated. "They'll have until 2014," Reid said.

Reid's staff was not forthcoming with clarification, but there are two possible interpretations to this answer.

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Health Care

Hoyer: Probably More Votes For Less-Robust Public Option In House

Brian Beutler | October 27, 2009, 10:40AM

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters this morning the House may unveil its health care bill by the end of the week, but he also said that the Democratic leaders probably have more votes for a more modest public option than they do for the public option preferred by most liberals.

"It's possible... that would be our objective, and it's our objective because we want to consider this bill next week, and we pledged to give 72 hours notice so we need to roll out the bill this week. So it's very possible that we're going to have a meeting right after this meeting and I think we'll have some better feel for where we are on that."

That will likely please anxious reformers, but it may not all be good news. Asked what type of public option the House bill would likely include, Hoyer suggested that a public option with negotiated rates probably has more votes than does a more robust measure. Though the robust public option has a great deal of support among Democrats, Hoyer asks rhetorically "What additional numbers can you add by going to negotiated rates?...[W]e don't have that exact number. But certainly there are people who want the negotiated rates who would add themselves to the number [that support a robust public option] that is anywhere between 200 and 218 at this point in time."

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Public Option

AHIP Calls Public Option 'A Roadblock To Reform'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 27, 2009, 9:12AM

AHIP, the lobbying arm of the nation's health insurance companies, took a hard line against the public option after Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid said last night one would be included in a final health care reform bill.

"A new government-run plan would underpay doctors and hospitals rather than driving real reforms that bring down costs and improve quality," the group said in statement posted to the AHIP website. "The American people want health care reform that will reduce costs and this plan doesn't do that."

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Health Care

Change Of Tune: Leadership, Progressives, Advocacy Groups Jump On The Opt-Out Train

Christina Bellantoni | October 27, 2009, 8:48AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

After Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's big public option opt-out reveal yesterday, the major players are looking pretty unified.

Check out all the reactions we posted at TPMLiveWire yesterday and see what they have in common, as Senate leadership, progressives and advocacy groups appear to be rallying behind the new strategy.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) was singing a different tune, reminding everyone in a statement that "I included a public option in the health reform blueprint I released nearly one year ago."

MoveOn, which was asking members to pressure Obama last week, is now shifting gears to make sure the Democratic Party gets in line and votes to block a filibuster.

Health Care for America Now was championing Reid for "standing up" and doing the right thing, collecting more than 20,000 signatures on a thank-you petition to the leader.

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Health Care

Schumer: We Prevailed On White House That Public Option Was The Way To Go

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 7:41PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

So how did we go from a White House at loggerheads with the Senate leadership last Thursday night over a public option, to a deal today that's exactly what the leadership wanted?

This evening I spoke with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who was in that infamous Thursday night meeting with President Obama and other Senate leaders--and who has been one of the most persistent advocates of a public option on Capitol Hill. As Schumer explains it, the disagreement between the White House and Senate wasn't substantive so much as it was tactical: The White House had its doubts that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could really get 60 votes for a public option with an opt out for states.

"The President listened very carefully," Schumer said in an interview moments ago. "He wanted to make sure that the strategy upon which we were embarking had the ability to carry through."

Schumer has been at the center of the fight over the public option from the earliest days of the health care debate--always there to pull it back from the brink when it at times seemed on the verge of collapse. This situation was no different. After the Thursday meeting, four sources in different Democratic offices told me that the White House had suggested they believed a strategy of pursuing Sen. Olympia Snowe's preferred compromise--a triggered public option--might be an easier path to 60 votes. In the end, though, Schumer and the rest of leadership seem to have prevailed upon President Obama that they've picked the right strategy.

"I think substantively the White House probably preferred a stronger public option than a trigger," Schumer said. "We talked about this for a while in leadership and the White House wanted to hear our thoughts--and when they heard them they thought that this was the right strategy to get our caucus together."

Today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the President stands behind Reid as he builds support for the public plan.

"A lot of people around here have faith in Harry Reid's abilty to count votes," Schumer told me.

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Health Care

House GOP Finds New Health Care Reform Villian In AARP

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 26, 2009, 7:15PM

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA)

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) briefed reporters this afternoon on the House GOP's plans for health care this week. The party will focus on reform's effects on senior citizens, specifically through changes to Medicare. Democratic proposals include several changes to the way Medicare is funded that have long had support from the AARP, far and away the most powerful lobbying group for seniors. But Pence and Reichert suggested that support was the result of corruption inside the AARP and not based on the interests of its membership.

"What you've got here is a backroom deal," Pence said of reform measures expected to be introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this afternoon. "Democrats are protecting the salaries of the heads of groups like AARP while cutting medicare."

For its part, AARP dismisses the allegations, pointing out that it has seen this movie before.

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Dick Durbin

Durbin: Progressives Forced Our Hand On The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 5:56PM

A helpful data point for liberal legislators and progressive activists: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)--the Democrats' main vote counter in the Senate--says that the public option-plus-opt out clause was a pragmatic choice. Liberals wouldn't have supported anything less.

Durbin told Ryan Grim of Huffington Post and a handful of other reporters that Reid may very well have chosen to put Olympia Snowe's trigger compromise in the bill "[i] we thought that just putting the trigger in meant that we'd end with 61 votes."

But they, apparently didn't. Some in the party made clear that they "felt that that just didn't go far enough moving toward a public option," said Durbin.

Undoubtedly progressives will see today's development as a validation of their intense activism--pressure that wasn't always appreciated by Democratic party elders.

Health Care

Before Reid Even Starts Speaking GOP Hits Him On 'Govt-Run' Health Care

Christina Bellantoni | October 26, 2009, 5:42PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid prepared to announce the new health care bill with a public option included, Republicans fired off a statement targeting him for reelection that suggests they've chosen a new everything-old-is-new-again talking point.

"As Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) prepares to announce he's ignoring concerns from moderate Senate Democrats and the Obama White House, and moving forward with a government-run health care option at this afternoon's press conference, please consider the National Republican Senatorial Committee's statement regarding this latest example of heavy-handed partisanship," NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh told reporters.

Sue Lowden (R-NV), hoping to challenge Reid in 2010, sent out her own fundraising message with similar language.

"The American people are outraged with the Democrat's government take over of health care and the public option. Now there is news that Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid is again ignoring our voices and is pushing a public option health care bill through the Senate," Lowden wrote, accusing Reid of "discarding any attempts at working with Republicans."

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Chris Dodd

Dodd: I Fought For A Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 5:26PM

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)--who lead the HELP committee's health care process, and supported the public plan behind the scenes--is a very big reason this compromise came to life. He wants you to know that: "I fought for a strong public option - in the HELP Committee and in this merger process - because it is the best way to keep costs low and insurance companies honest," said Dodd.

Majority Leader Reid has made a bold and right choice to endorse the HELP Committee public option, along with a provision allowing states to opt out. At its core, health care reform is about making insurance more stable and affordable for those who have it, and available to those who don't, while improving quality and lowering costs. I believe that the public option is a key component to successful reform, and I will continue to lead the fight for it on the Senate floor.

Health Care

Snowe 'Deeply Disappointed,' Says Triggers 'Could Have Been The Road' To Broader Bipartisanship

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 5:07PM

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME)

Is Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) a definite no vote now? In response to the news that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will include a public option (with an opt out clause) in his health care legislation, Snowe says she's not happy.

"I am deeply disappointed with the Majority Leader's decision to include a public option as the focus of the legislation," Snowe said in a statement. "I still believe that a fallback, safety net plan, to be triggered and available immediately in states where insurance companies fail to offer plans that meet the standards of affordability, could have been the road toward achieving a broader bipartisan consensus in the Senate."

How explicit a statement is that, though? I could be over-parsing here, but it sounds to me as if she's leaving a door pretty wide open to supporting this bill down the line. Note, she doesn't say she's withdrawing her support. And note as well that she says she thinks triggers could have been the path to broader bipartisan consensus--i.e. instead of being the path to just one Republican vote (hers), triggers might have won over a few more GOPers.

She's said she doesn't support the opt out. She's also said it would be very hard for her not to join a Republican health care filibuster under these circumstances. But, despite what Reid said, it's not clear to me that she's completely jumped ship.

Health Care

Sen. Brown On Opt-Out Public Option: 'Confident' States Will Put Families Ahead of Insurers

Christina Bellantoni | October 26, 2009, 4:15PM

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

An interesting line comes out from Sen. Sherrod Brown in response to the news Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is including a public option with an opt-out clause.

Brown (D-OH) is one of the leading progressives pushing a "robust" public option. He applauded Reid's move and challenged states with some political rhetoric:

"While the bill would allow a state to opt-out of offering the public option to its residents, I am confident that the states will choose to put middle class families ahead of the insurance industry."

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Health Care

Baucus: I Support Harry Reid And A Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 4:09PM

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, who was reportedly none too pleased when he learned that Harry Reid was leaning towards putting a public option in the Senate's health care bill, is now singing a much more positive tune. "It is time to make our system work better for patients and providers, for small business owners and for our economy. It is time for health care reform," Baucus said.

For more than a year, we've been working to meet the goals of reducing the growth of health care costs, improving quality and efficiency and expanding coverage. There are a tremendous number of complicated issues that go into reform and the public option is certainly one of them. I included a public option in the health reform blueprint I released nearly one year ago, and continue to support any provision, including a public option, that will ensure choice and competition and get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. Success should be our threshold and I am going to fight hard for the 60 votes we need to meet that goal this year.

There's still some wiggle room there. (Will Baucus help twist arms to get to 60?) But he seems to be implying that he thinks the public option plus opt-out can clear the threshold--and that's the first clear statement of his abstract support for the provision in quite some time.

Health Care

Gibbs: Obama Is 'Pleased' Public Option Included

Christina Bellantoni | October 26, 2009, 3:51PM

White House Press Sec. Robert Gibbs

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement reacting to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's press conference on health care:

"The President congratulates Senator Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd for their hard work on health insurance reform. Thanks to their efforts, we're closer than we've ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the President is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made. He's also pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out. As he said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition."

Chuck Schumer

Schumer: Opt-Out Is 'The Best Compromise' That Can Potentially Get 60 Votes

Eric Kleefeld | October 26, 2009, 3:31PM

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has released this statement, on Harry Reid's announcement of a public option proposal that includes an opt-out mechanism for states:

"Leader Reid has always been a strong supporter of a public option that could help keep the insurers honest, and today he showed just how deep his commitment is. The public option has new life because as Americans have learned more about it, they have come to see it is the best way to reduce costs and increase competition in the health insurance industry. This form of public option is not exactly what either liberals or moderates would want. But a public plan based on a level playing field, with an opt-out for states, is the best compromise that has the potential of getting 60 votes in the Senate."

Health Care

Reid: Public Option No 'Silver Bullet' But Strong Consensus For Opt-Out

Christina Bellantoni | October 26, 2009, 3:24PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced what we've been reporting today - the merged health care bill will include a public option allowing states to opt-out.

"Under this concept states will be able to determine whether the public option works best for them," Reid told reporters. He said it was the "fairest" way to go.

Reid (D-NV) said after "countless hours" of talking to his caucus, there is a "strong consensus" for this plan. He said he will not submit a plan with a triggered public option to the Congressional Budget Office.

"As we've gone through this process, I've concluded, with the support of the White House and Senators. Dodd and Baucus, that the best way to move forward is to include a public option with an opt out provision for states," Reid said.

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Health Care

Leadership Staff To Brief Senate Aides After Reid Health Care Announcement

Christina Bellantoni | October 26, 2009, 3:08PM

(L-R), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), then-Senator, present Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)

TPMDC is on hand for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's press conference about the merged health care bill.

We're hearing that once Reid presents the plan, leadership staffers soon after will huddle with Democratic Senate aides to explain its elements.

The question-and-answer session will allow staffers to get a clear sense of what is in the bill, and particularly detail the way the public option opt-out will work. Our source said this will help on-the-fence senators start making up their mind.

Health Care

Lincoln Won't Commit To Cloture

Rachel Slajda | October 26, 2009, 1:39PM

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) has not committed to supporting a vote on a health care reform bill, Greg Sargent reports today.

When asked if she would vote yes on a procedural motion (cloture) to bring the bill to a vote, a spokeswoman said Lincoln "has not committed her vote to anyone."

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Health Care

Reid Backs Opt Out Plan--Is The Door Still Open To Alternative Measures?

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 1:34PM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appears poised today to announce his intent to include a public option with an opt out clause in the bill he brings to the Senate floor.

Policy details will likely be scarce, and the draft bill could still change. What goes to CBO will have different options under certain sections of the legislation, and there are conflicting reports that Reid might ask the CBO to send back analyses of other versions of the public option. Though most on the left would prefer it if public option compromises would simply be suffocated of all oxygen, it's also true that if a public option with an opt-out clause is included in the base bill, it will to a great extent shape the the floor debate. (For instance, 60 votes would be required to strip the public option out of the bill.)

Democrats are being very tight lipped today about exactly what Reid will say, but are suggesting strongly that there will be news.

Health Care

Reid To Make Major Health Care Announcement This Afternoon

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 12:25PM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may have some answers for hungry reporters, and anxious activists sooner than expected. The Nevada Democrat will be holding a press conference today at 3:15 p.m. to discuss his progress merging two competing health care bills.

We'll, of course, be there, and will pass on updates as quickly as possible.

Health Care

Sen. Ben Nelson Getting Squeezed By Left And Right On Health Care

Christina Bellantoni | October 26, 2009, 11:47AM

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform is targeting Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) on health care with a national cable television ad that also will air in Nebraska.

Norquist, who has made a career of holding local, state and federal lawmakers accountable to signing a pledge with his group about not raising taxes, provides supporters a copy of the Nelson pledge in an ATR blog post today.

"He is bound by that Pledge for the duration of his career as a senator," ATR wrote, blasting the health care bill.

What's more, they are pressuring Nelson - already being hammered by the left on this issue - to filibuster the procedural motion to move forward on health care debate, suggesting a vote for what is known as cloture is a violation of the pledge.

"Now is the time where Senator Nelson must follow through on the promise he made to get elected," ATR wrote.

The ad after the jump.

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Health Care

Over White House Skepticism, Reid Likely To Go The Opt Out Route

Brian Beutler | October 26, 2009, 10:45AM

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will send a health care legislation to CBO today, and details of his proposal will be unveiled shortly thereafter, TPMDC has learned. A highly placed source suggests that Reid's preference remains to include a public option with an opt out clause, despite the fact that the White House is skeptical that this is the most politically viable strategy.

As TPMDC has reported, the move would make it much less likely that Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) will ultimately support the bill, and the White House conveyed skepticism to Reid last week that he was making the right call.

However, a senior White House official tells TNR's Jonathan Cohn that the White House will ultimately back whatever Reid decides to do. Sounds like we'll know for sure pretty soon.

Health Care

WH Says Obama Supports Senate But President Unlikely To Talk Health Care For A Few Days

Christina Bellantoni | October 26, 2009, 9:56AM

Deputy White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer

The White House wants everyone to know President Obama "completely supports" the Senate leadership as a final bill emerges this week.

In response to TPMDC and other outlets reporting that the White House is pushing back against efforts to include a public option in the merged bill, the White House press shop issued a rare late-night blog post from Dan Pfeiffer.

But Obama himself is unlikely to chime in for several days. He's meeting with his national security team about whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, then heading to Florida for a meeting with troops.

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Health Care

Reid Hopes To Unveil Health Care Bill Details Next Week

Brian Beutler | October 23, 2009, 6:02PM

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

These deadlines seem to be made to be broken, and with all the hoopla surrounding the public option still unfolding, it could happen. But a leadership source tells me that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hopes to unveil details of the Senate health care bill--the merged version of the Senate HELP and Finance Committee bills--early next week.

We know things are still changing. We know Reid has been leaning toward incorporating an opt-out public option in the final package. We know that other public option compromises are under consideration. We know that the White House has been trying to push back against Reid on this. What we don't know yet is what the outcome of all this sturm und drang will be. We may find out sooner than later.

Health Care

Pelosi: Though Robust Public Option Is Still The Goal, The Atmosphere Has Changed

Brian Beutler | October 23, 2009, 4:41PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

After a rough and tumble start to the day, the House's public option predicament remains mostly unchanged. Speaker Nancy Pelosi still wants a robust plan, pegged to Medicare, but she's finding it difficult to round up the necessary votes. Undecided Democrats are being put on the spot and are doing everything they can to slink away from the discussion. In the face of this predicament, Pelosi is acknowledging that the more progressive public option may not happen.

"The atmosphere has changed. When we were dealing with the idea that the Senate had nothing, it was really important, again, to go in with the most muscle for the middle class with a robust public option," Pelosi said at the news conference.

"This is about the endgame now," she said.

Though the push is still on for the robust public option, that seems about as clear a sign as any that leadership is at least preparing for the possibility that their monumental push might not succeed.

Tim Pawlenty

Pawlenty: My State Should Opt Out

Eric Kleefeld | October 23, 2009, 4:37PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), a potential president candidate, says that his state should opt out of the public option if given the chance.

"I don't know if we would opt out, but I personally would like to opt out because I don't like government-run health care," Pawlenty said.

This shouldn't be too much of a shocker, considering that Pawlenty had previously talked about invoking the Tenth Amendment and attempting to nullify health care reform at the state level. Really, being given permission by the federal government to opt out isn't much in comparison.

It's unlikely that Minnesota actually would opt out, due to its legislature being heavily Democratic. But hey, Pawlenty can dream. And he can court the national GOP base.

Health Care

Dean Of House To Nervous Dems: If We Fail On Health Care, We Lose

Brian Beutler | October 23, 2009, 3:31PM

Rep. Jon Dingell (D-MI)

In a tense, closed door caucus meeting this morning, during which House Democrats were made to go on the record on the question of whether they'd vote for a health care bill with a robust public option, some of the caucus' most nervous members got a bit of perspective from its longest serving members.

"It was really fairly simple speech," said Rep. John Dingell (D-MI). "All I did was to remind the members that the Republicans are out there to beat us by seeing to it that we accomplish nothing during this Congress especially on health care. It's exactly the same tactic, the same strategy they used in 1993. And I reminded them that that tactic took control of the House from us, because, one of the principal reasons was, we were not able to pass a health insurance bill."

Dingell tells me, "I reminded them that Democrats were divided on the issue. And I told them that if they want to come back and control the Congress they should get behind this bill."

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Public Option

Progressives Want Rahm Unleashed In Favor Of The Public Option

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 23, 2009, 3:15PM

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel

Members of the progressive lobby are calling on White House Chief Of Staff Rahm Emanuel put some of his legendary pressure on Congress to pass the public option.

The NAACP, the Campaign For America's Future and MoveOn.org dispatched a letter to Emanuel's office today asking backup in the fight for a public option. From the letter, as reported by The Hill:

"We respectfully ask that the Office of the President take a stronger stand on a robust public option in order to enact true health care reform this year."

Health Care

Sources: White House Pushing Back Against Senate Public Option Opt Out Compromise

Brian Beutler | October 23, 2009, 3:11PM

President Barack Obama

Multiple sources tell TPMDC that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is very close to rounding up 60 members in support of a public option with an opt out clause, and are continuing to push skeptical members. But they also say that the White House is pushing back against the idea, in a bid to retain the support of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

"They're skeptical of opt out and are generally deferential to the Snowe strategy that involves the trigger," said one source close to negotiations between the Senate and the White House. "they're certainly not calming moderates' concerns on opt out."

This new development, which casts the White House as an opponent of all but the most watered down form of public option, is likely to yield backlash from progressives, especially those in the House who have been pushing for a more maximal version of reform.

It also suggests, for perhaps the first time, that the White House's supposed hands off approach, to ostensibly allow the two chambers in Congress to craft their own bills, has been discarded.

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Public Option

Snowe To Snub Public Option Again This Weekend

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 23, 2009, 2:29PM

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) will double-down this weekend on the rejection of a public option she told Brian about yesterday.

In an interview set to air on Bloomberg, Snowe tells the network's Al Hunt that she's opposed to any public option's inclusion in a health care bill because it gives the government too much control of the health care industry:

"A public option at the forefront really does put the government in a disproportionate position with respect to the industry," she says in the interview.

Health Care

White House Offers Clear (As Mud) Comment On Public Option Meetings

Christina Bellantoni | October 23, 2009, 1:24PM

WH Spokesman Bill Burton

Reporters aboard Air Force One this morning peppered White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton with questions about the swirling Capitol Hill news and negotiations on the public option today.

Burton gave some of the most oft repeated vague and general sentiments, saying that President Obama told Democrats he will "continue to work day and night" to get a bill passed. He also dodged an opportunity to critique or walk back adviser Valerie Jarrett's comment about a Politico reporter earlier today.

Asked what Obama wants from the several types of public option that are being considered, Burton demurred with the talking point the White House has been using for months.

"The president continues to think that the public option is the best way to achieve choice and competition, and that's what he's working towards," he said.

Bits from the White House transcript after the jump.

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AHIP

It's Come To This: AHIP Called 'Baby Haters' In New Web Ad

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 23, 2009, 12:48PM

Meet Patriot Baby

Apparently there's no room left for subtlety in the fight against AHIP. Meet Patriot Baby, the new hero of health insurance industry opponents:

Read more »

Health Care

Hill Source: 'Lot Of Undecided Members'

Christina Bellantoni | October 23, 2009, 12:30PM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), President Barack Obama

As we've been reporting today, House Democrats held a private caucus meeting on health care and the various public option possibilities for a final version of their bill.

A Democratic leadership source tells TPMDC that leaders read out the names of the entire caucus this morning to get Democrats on record with their positions. Members were asked if they support a "robust" public option.

"There are a lot of undecided members," the source said.

Reports that any counts of House Democrats are firm or weak aren't accurate, the leadership aide said.

"We're still working on getting there," the source added. "At the end of the day, we will have a public option, the question is what it will look like."

There's been some scuttlebutt today about whether progressives promised Speaker Nancy Pelosi more than the votes they could deliver on the most aggressive public option. Our leadership source says no, and believes progressives "did a great job of coalescing the caucus."

TPMDC has more detail here.

Public Option

Report: Pelosi Reiterates Robust Public Option Still On The Table

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 23, 2009, 12:22PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Nancy Pelosi called an "emergency meeting" of House Democrats this morning in an attempt to beat back rumors that she and other congressional leaders have abandoned the so-called robust public option. The House Speaker insisted that, despite reports to the contrary, the public option is very much alive as Democrats draft the health reform bill they hope to send to the House floor next month.

The Hill reports:

The Speaker met late Thursday night with the Progressive Caucus, the bloc of Democrats most supportive of a robust public option, and assured them that it was still on the table, according to a member in attendance. And according to attendees, Pelosi reiterated that pledge to the larger caucus at Friday's morning meeting."

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Public Option

Pelosi Publicly Demanding Public Option Skeptics Get Off The Fence

Brian Beutler | October 23, 2009, 11:02AM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

For days now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been trying to sway skeptics in her caucus into supporting a robust public option. That effort has hit some road bumps--let's just say the votes didn't materialize as easily as she'd hoped. And the mood is definitely pessimistic. But no final decision has been made, and now it seems Pelosi is bringing out some bigger guns.

She is currently conducting what's known as a public whip--huddling with her rank and file and asking everybody, including fence sitters, where they stand on the robust public option. That means we should have answers soon.

Late update: The meeting ended a few minutes ago--though the push is continuing. We'll update you as details trickle out.

Health Care

Speaker's Aide Rebuts Politico Story Claiming Pelosi Has Lost Fight For Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 23, 2009, 9:33AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Politico's Mike Allen has a splashy story up this morning claiming, among other things, that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has concluded that she can't pass the robust public option. But is it accurate? Not according to Pelosi's spokesman Nadeam Elshami:

"Speculation that a final decision has been made about the public option are not accurate," Elshami tells TPMDC. "We continue to work with all the members of the caucus to build consensus."

As of yesterday, Pelosi was continuing to negotiate with members of her caucus who would prefer a public option that pays negotiated (as opposed to Medicare-like) rates, pointing out that a robust public option saves significantly more money than other versions, and that the savings will have to come from elsewhere if the public option isn't strong enough.

If Pelosi's push is not successful, it would be a blow to progressives who have insisted that the House pass a robust public option. But it appears for now that, contra Allen, the push is ongoing.

A senior House aide assures me that "the House bill will have a public option." But the leadership did not tell progressives last night that the robust public option is off the table. The votes are still being counted.

Health Care

Public Option Pressure: As Stories Leak WH And Dem Leaders Say No Decision Has Been Made

Christina Bellantoni | October 23, 2009, 8:42AM

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), President Barack Obama

House leadership sources are telling TPMDC they think news on the "robust" public option is leaking out to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the health care discussions are getting hotter, and closer to the final deal.

Politico's story this morning suggests Pelosi doesn't have the votes, but our sources insist the leadership isn't yet at that stage.

Presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett jabbed at the Politico story while appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe today, saying of the reporter who penned the piece, "I don't know whether Mike Allen can actually count votes or not."

But House sources think Democrats may have spoken with Allen to apply pressure on Pelosi at this late stage in the game.

Sources also knocked down a suggestion that President Obama expressed his preference for a type of public option during a huddle with Senate Democratic leaders last night at the White House.

An administration source tells TPMDC that last night Senate leaders updated Obama on their progress toward the final merger. The group discussed a public option that includes a state opt-out clause, but stressed they had not made a final decision.

Senators are "still working through the substance and talking to their members about it," the source said. "They didn't ask for the president's endorsement since no decision has been made."

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Health Care

How High Will Public Option Trial Balloon Fly In The Senate?

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2009, 6:51PM

For days there was silence. And then this morning and afternoon, the floodgates opened. Senators began saying, on the record, that Democratic leadership was leaning toward putting a public option--with an opt out clause--in the base Senate health care bill.

But, as a source close to the negotiations told me, there's more to leadership's inclination than meets the eye. Part of the play here is to see whether this news causes Senate centrists to flip out. A classic trial balloon. So far, only Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) has said it will likely cost Harry Reid her cloture vote. Conservative Democrats might not be pleased, but so far they're keeping it fairly bottled up. Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) voiced some displeasure, but nobody's gone into revolt.

Assuming the calm endures, chances seem pretty good that this is the direction Reid will take. But it won't be set in stone...until it's set in stone. As Greg Sargent has noted, the votes aren't there yet for a straightforward public option like the level-playing-field plan in the Senate HELP Committee's bill. In other words, negotiations will continue.

Health Care

HCAN's Kirsch: We'll Weigh In On Public Option When It's Actually In The Bill

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2009, 5:52PM

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)

Moments ago, I spoke with Richard Kirsch, campaign director for Health Care for America Now. I described the public option proposal that's being considered in the Senate (outlined by Sen. Tom Carper here) and asked whether it would meet HCAN's muster.

Kirsch said it's too early to tell. "There are a lot of rumors right now," Kirsch cautioned.

He said HCAN will wait until there is a finalized bill on the table before weighing in on whether the public option meets HCAN's principles, which, he reminded me "are that it's national, that it's run by the government or an agency accountable to the government, that it's available on day one," and that it provides competition necessary to drive down premium prices.

In the meantime, he notes, HCAN will be pushing for the most robust public option possible, praising the ideas on offer in the House of Representatives.

Health Care

Dem Leaders Arrive At White House For Health Care Check-In

Christina Bellantoni | October 22, 2009, 5:31PM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Senate Democratic leaders have arrived at the White House for what administration officials are calling a "check-in."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) will be meeting with President Obama and (probably) top health care adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle and chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who have been on Capitol Hill all week helping negotiate the merger of the two versions of the Senate health care plan.

A source tells TPMDC there isn't a laser focus on all of the public option news breaking over on the Hill (Brian's latest is here) but rather a talk about everything being floated as a potential compromise.

"I think there are a lot of moving parts here and don't think anything is close to being settled," the source said.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had a private lunch with Obama today and aides on both sides are mum on what they discussed.

TPMDC is camped out here at the White House to get a sense of how the talks are going, and we'll keep you posted.

Harry Reid

Source: Leadership Poised To Add Public Option, Moderates Mostly Mum

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2009, 4:49PM

Where did all of this momentum for the public option come from? According to a source close to negotiations, it came from last night's closed door meeting between Senate and White House officials, with the push coming from Democratic leadership.

"It's definitely being considered," the source said, referring to the public option compromise that may end up in the Senate's health care bill.

"It came out at last night's meeting," the source indicated. "It was indicated that based on some surveying that had been done of the moderates, that it doesn't so far seem like they would jump out of their skin as long as they have an opportunity to vote to strip it."

Any provision in the base bill that hits the Senate floor will stay in unless 60 senators can band together to strip it out. That means if a public option is included now, it's almost certain not to go anywhere. According to both Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and other sources, the compromise being considered would create a national public option that pays providers at negotiated rates. Unlike similar so-called "level-playing-field" public option proposals, it would not be operated by the Department of Health and Human Services, but by a separate entity, with a board of directors appointed by the government.

This fact, apparently, didn't sit well with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, who is determined to keep Sen. Olympia Snowe's vote.

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Alan Grayson

Grayson Puts Actual Names Back On 'Names Of The Dead'

Eric Kleefeld | October 22, 2009, 4:47PM

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has made a new change to his "Names of the Dead" Web site, which is meant to catalog a list of people who have died for lack of health insurance, with the sidebar of dead people's names now restored to the site.

The page had originally allowed users to post names that would immediately go live to the site, without any editing, which quickly led to the display of joke names like "Wile E. Coyote" and "Hugh G. Reckshinn." The list was then removed.

A source close to Grayson told me that names will now be cleared through an administrator before going live.

However, I should point out that this approach is also susceptible to prank names if they are obscure enough -- which already happened yesterday with entries such as "Steve Rogers, 90" (Captain America), "Casper McFadden, 12" (Casper the Friendly Ghost), or "Norma Jeane Mortenson, 36" (Marilyn Monroe).

AHIP

AHIP Chief Ignores Protestors

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 22, 2009, 4:45PM

AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni

About 400 union activists gathered outside the Capitol Hilton in downtown D.C. this afternoon and called on AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni to take a break from the health insurance industry convention going on inside to meet with seven insurance company customers who say they've each lived through (some of them barely) a nightmare that started when they tried to get their insurer to pay their medical bills.

Ignagni didn't show.

Health Care For America Now!, and organized labor-funded lobbying group, hosted the protest and brought the seven families to DC to meet with Igagni. Executive Director Richard Kirsch told the crowd outside the bad news.

"They're all scared of you," he said of insurance company executives. "They don't want to face us."

Read more »

Tom Carper

Carper: Senate Bill Will Include A National Public Plan With An Opt Out

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2009, 4:00PM

Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)

After a meeting with Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) discussed the status of the public plan in the Senate health care bill with reporters. Here's what he said:

"I think at the end of the day there will be a national plan probably put together not by the federal government but by a non-profit board with some seed money from the federal government that states would initially participate in because of lack of affordability. The question is should there be an opportunity for states to opt out later on and if so, within a year, within two years, within three years?"

How would this plan work? "Among the things that's important," Carper said, "is, one, that this not be a government run, government funded enterprise, two, that there be a level playing field so that this non-profit entity that would be stood up would have to play by same rules basically as for-profit insurance companies--the idea that secretary of Health and Human Services [will be] running or directing the operation of this--no way.

We ought to have a non-profit board--it could be appointed by the President but a non profit board. They'd have to retain earnings, create a retained earnings pool, so that if they run into financial problems later on the financial needs of the plan could be met by the retained earnings, not by the federal government.

Carper suggested that a state's ability to opt out could be determined by the effectiveness and competitiveness of its insurance market. "There should be some standard--how do we say to a state, 'No you've got to participate in it right from day one,' and if so should there be an opportunity later on for you to say, 'Well, it's not working, we don't want to continue to be a part that,' and to opt out."

I pressed Carper on whether this entity would be accountable to taxpayers. He didn't answer directly--clearly there's some interest in de-emphasizing the government's role in the insurance market--he did sugest that the public option, though run by a non-government entity, would answer to the government.

And that would appear to bring it into line with the demands of the largest health care reform campaign in the country.

Health Care

Sen. Landrieu On Public Option: 'Government-Run, Taxpayer Subsidized'

Christina Bellantoni | October 22, 2009, 3:33PM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Word on Capitol Hill today is that a public option may end up in the final Senate health care bill after all, but Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) doesn't sound like she likes it very much.

During an interview with NPR's "Tell Me More" today, Landrieu described the public option as a "government-run, taxpayer subsidized, national insurance plan."

Opining on the polls showing support for public option, she said it was all about the phrasing of the question.

"I think if you asked, 'Do you want a public option but it would force the government to go bankrupt,' people would say 'No,'" she said.

The Hill caught the NPR bit earlier. Listen to the full piece here.

Alan Grayson

Grayson Removes Campaign Link From 'Names of the Dead' Web Site

Eric Kleefeld | October 22, 2009, 3:15PM

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has modified his "Names of the Dead" Web site, which is meant to catalog a list of people who have died for lack of health insurance, removing a link to his campaign Web site.

Republicans had been objecting that Grayson used the House floor to promote a site that contained link to his campaign site -- and thus an avenue to donate to him -- and also that he was using his personal money to run a site that in turn linked to his campaign.

Grayson's office gave us this statement from the Congressman:

"There are no violations. Once again, the Republicans are trying to change the subject from what matters to what doesn't matter. Why can't they talk about the issues? In the hours since they started complaining about this, more than 100 people have died because they do not have health insurance. Let's talk about saving lives, not about baseless complaints about violations that did not occur."

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Health Care

Nelson, Conrad Say Dems, White House Leaning Toward Including Public Option In Senate Health Care Bill

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2009, 2:16PM

If this is accurate, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) gets a medal for prescience and Sen. Olympia Snowe's decision may be made for her. Two high profile conservative Democrats are saying they hear that Senate and White House health care negotiators are leaning toward including the public option in the base bill that they bring to the Senate floor.

"I keep hearing there is a lot of leaning toward some sort of national public option, unfortunately, from my standpoint," said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). "I still believe a state-based approach is the way in which to go. So I'm not being shy about making that point."

"What I'm hearing is this is the direction of the conversation," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND).

Reid's office is not commenting on the speculation. But if Nelson and Conrad's understanding is correct it would be bombshell news. Reid and the White House have been under intense pressure from the Democratic base to include a public option in the bill that comes to the Senate floor. If they accede, it would all but assure that if a health care bill os enacted by Congress, it will include a national public option. We'll pay close attention

Health Care

Democratic Leaders Talking Health Care At White House Today

Christina Bellantoni | October 22, 2009, 2:15PM

White House Press Sec. Robert Gibbs

As the health care merger discussions inch lawmakers closer to a final deal, key Democrats are getting face time with President Obama.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a private lunch with Obama today, and Democratic leaders will meet with him this evening.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he wasn't sure whether Republicans were invited, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) will be here around 5 p.m.

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Olympia Snowe

Maine AFL-CIO To Snowe: Get With The Program On The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2009, 2:04PM

Word travels fast!

As it happens, the Maine AFL-CIO is holding its convention today. In response to my earlier report that Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) does not support a favored opt out compromise, and will likely filibuster a health care bill if it includes a public option, the coalition put their convention into recess so everyone in attendance can call her office to tell her they support a public option.

"Senator Snowe's constituents in Maine want and deserve a robust public option," said AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale. "Workers from across the state were gathered for their state AFL-CIO convention and will all be calling her directly in support of one."

Snowe's no stranger to pressure on this issue, both from within her state and without. And that pressure just got ramped up a little bit further.

Olympia Snowe

Snowe: I Do Not Support Opt Out Compromise, Would Likely Filibuster Public Option Bill

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2009, 12:38PM

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

In a huddle with reporters moments ago, I asked Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) for her thoughts on a public option compromise that would allow states to opt out of a national government insurance program, and her answer could slow down the proposal's considerable momentum.

"I don't support that," Snowe said.

Asked further whether she would participate in a filibuster on a bill with a public option, she went almost all the way.

"I've said, I'm against a public option...yes...it would be difficult" to support allowing the bill to proceed to a vote.

Snowe and other centrists say they'll withhold their support on a motion to proceed to the bill on the Senate floor (which will require 60 votes in and of itself) until the legislation is fully pieced together and the CBO has weighed in. She and other centrists want to ensure that the bill meets their specifications before it goes to the floor, so that they won't bear the burden of rounding up the 60 votes needed to change the legislation during debate.

Health Care

Pelosi Still On Hunt For 218 Robust Public Option Votes

Brian Beutler | October 22, 2009, 11:36AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

A day after she began a full whip effort for a health care bill with a robust public option, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues discussions with members in the hopes of reaching consensus before Thanksgiving.

"We will have a bill that will go to the floor and it will have a public option in it...the question is what form will that take," Pelosi said during her weekly press conference today.

Pelosi continues to use a steady stream of preliminary CBO numbers to convince squeamish members that a robust public option is a big money saver, and the most fiscally responsible way forward.

"Originally we were operating under a trillion dollars.... the president said a number around $900 billion. So that changed some of our discussions," Pelosi explained.

For example, the robust public option--that's how that has emerged because that takes you down $110 billion, and that's very significant when you're trying to go from just under a trillion to just under $900 billion. The negotiated rates, which has some support in our caucus, is over $900 billion.... Trying to give every option its fair shake, I have asked the CBO how do you get negotiated rates down under $900 billion. Some of the options are not palatable to members like putting significant numbers of people on Medicaid rather than into the exchange.

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Health Care

DNC Says Michael Steele Is 'Lying' About Health Care Reform

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 22, 2009, 11:31AM

The DNC is targeting RNC Michael Steele's rhetoric on health care reform in a new web video that launched today. Attempting to make good on President Obama's promise, made during his September health care address to Congress, to "call out" claims about health care reform that aren't truethe DNC is claiming Steele is "lying" about the health care reform bills currently the subject of intense negotiations on Capitol Hill.

Health Care

Health Care Group Hits AHIP For 'Dishonest' Report In New TV Ad

Christina Bellantoni | October 22, 2009, 11:25AM

Health Care for America Now is up with a new television ad blasting America's Health Insurance Providers (AHIP) for dropping a report suggesting insurance premiums would increase under the Senate Finance Committee.

It says AHIP's report is filled with "lies" and criticizes industry profits and insurer CEO pay. It closes with a call to action: "Tell Congress. We need good health care we can afford. With the choice of a public health insurance option."

The ad is tied to an afternoon press conference with families who have suffered due to problems with insurers. They plan to challenge AHIP officials today during the industry lobbying group's conference in at the Capital Hilton.

TPMDC will be on hand for the HCAN protest, where activists plan to carry signs reading, "It's a crime to deny care."

Watch the ad after the jump.

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Health Care

AHIP Lobbyist: Bipartisan Health Care Reform Is Dead And The GOP Should Keep It That Way

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 22, 2009, 11:16AM

A lobbyist for the American health insurance companies told an audience this morning that the the bipartisan journey to health care reform President Obama began earlier this year has reached its end.

AHIP lobbyist Steve Champlin spoke at the opening session of the health insurance trade group's "State Issues Conference" in Washington last night. His message? The GOP should stay away from any bill put forward by the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

Champlin, reported by the Huffington Post:

"There is absolutely no interest, no reason Republicans should ever vote for this thing. They have gone from a party that got killed 11 months ago to a party that is rising today. And they are rising up on the turmoil of health care. So when they vote for a health care reform bill, whatever it is, they are giving comfort to the enemy who is down."

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House of Representatives

New GOP Health Care Attack: Obama Administration Slams Its Own Plan

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2009, 6:39PM

This afternoon, the Associated Press reports ominously: "A new government estimate finds that the nation's health care tab -- already the biggest of any advanced country -- would increase even more under health care overhaul legislation in the House."

And it's true. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has found that the version of House legislation passed by the Ways and Means Committee would cause national health care expenditures to grow. So naturally, the GOP is jumping all over it.

"The American people have never fallen for the Democrat spin that a government takeover of health care would lower costs," said Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), chair of the Republican Study Committee.

Now, the Obama administration has confirmed that the Democrat plan would actually grow the slice of the pie consisting of American health care spending. With the country already struggling under the flawed economic policies of this administration, the last thing we need is to strain Americans' ability to pay for their health care.

With the administration affirming that H.R. 3200 is bad medicine for the American economy, I hope House Democrats will take heed and pursue a different approach to reform. It's time for Speaker Pelosi to toss this costly legislation and start over with bipartisan ideas that empower patients to control their own health care decisions.

So, obviously, there are a number of caveats.

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Alan Grayson

Grayson: 'Names of the Dead' Site A Memorial To Those We've Lost -- And Republicans Have No Respect For The Dead

Eric Kleefeld | October 21, 2009, 6:24PM

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)

I just spoke with Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), and he stood by his "Names of the Dead" Web site, which is meant to memorialize the people who have lost their lives because they didn't have health insurance -- and which was promptly flooded with joke names, and criticized by the GOP for allegedly violating campaign finance law.

Grayson said that the site is being done in the spirit of other great memorials that are all around Washington -- to honor the dead who have lost their lives for a lack of insurance, and to make people think about the issue.

"I can't really tell you how I first got the idea for it. But I can tell you there are many memorials that are very moving. They're all around D.C., and everyone who visits D.C. gives some thought to the people we lost," said Grayson. "And I think this is a very fitting way to show these people that we respect them and we miss them. We miss them, and we love them. The people who are gone because they didn't get the health care they needed are just as important as everyone else. And the fact that certain elements of the political spectrum deny their existence only makes it that much more important that we remember them by naming them and honoring them."

"I meant what I said in my floor speech," Grayson also said, explaining: "That the best way to honor them is to make sure that everyone in America has the health care they need, and that the list itself, the need for the list, is a thing of the past."

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Health Care

Rockefeller Warms To Public Option Opt Out; So Do Conservative Dems

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2009, 5:43PM

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

Earlier today, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) told me something somewhat unexpected. "I'm looking very much now at this opt out public option," he said, "not opt in but opt out--so you start out with a public option, and if you don't like it you can opt out....that has a sense of freedom."

Why unexpected? Because here's what he told me just last week: "I don't start out favoring that," he said. "You know, opt out is sort of like trigger. It sounds good, it makes people feel good, but the question is, Is it good? And I don't think it really is. If it's the only way you can get the votes, then that's a decision that will have to be made over my head."

That's a pretty notable change, and reflective of the political appeal of the opt-out proposal within the Democratic party. Rockefeller and other senators have come to believe that, in addition to being more likely to get the votes needed to pass in the Senate, it's also a policy fix that will have almost, if not the same, impact as a fully national public option.

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Jay Rockefeller

Rockefeller: White House Approach To Public Option 'Difficult To Fathom' Sometimes

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2009, 3:54PM

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

I just spoke with Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), who had a bit of a fractured take on the current state of the public option. He took issue with the President Obama's aloof approach to the public option, and at the same time echoed one of the administration's most controversial lines.

"They're a little difficult to fathom sometimes, to keep up with what they're doing," Rockefeller said. "They're in these meetings, all of these meetings, that I don't get to go to so I can't tell you exactly what they're saying."

But he also said something that seems a bit at odds with his consistent, emphatic support for the measure, which he has described as a necessary element of reform. "You know, the public option--which I think in the end is going to prevail--is not actually the biggest thing in the entire bill," Rockefeller told me. "I hate to hear myself say that, but it's true."

Earlier today, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)--another ardent public option enthusiast--said much the same thing after an event heralding a plan to strip the health insurance industry of its anti-trust exemption.

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Alan Grayson

Alan Grayson Unveils 'Names of the Dead' Web Site -- And Gets Punked With Joke Names

Eric Kleefeld | October 21, 2009, 3:29PM

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has set up a new Web site, Names of the Dead, to memorialize Americans who died because they had no health insurance:

Every year, more than 44,000 Americans die simply because have no health insurance.

I have created this project in their memory. I hope that honoring them will help us end this senseless loss of American lives. If you have lost a loved one, please share the story of that loved one with us. Help us ensure that their legacy is a more just America, where every life that can be saved will be saved.

Grayson announced this new Web site on the House floor:

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Olympia Snowe

Poll: Maine Democrats Love Olympia Snowe -- GOPers Split

Eric Kleefeld | October 21, 2009, 3:00PM

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)

The new survey of Maine by Public Policy Polling (D) finds that Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe is overwhelmingly popular with the state's Democrats, in the wake of her vote for the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill -- and not too well liked among Republicans.

A whopping 70% of Maine Democrats approve of Snowe's job performance, with only 17% disapproving. Republicans, by contrast, are tied at 45%-45%. Independents approve of Snowe by 51%-33%, yielding an overall top-line approval of 56%-31%.

"With less than half of Republicans approving of Olympia Snowe now it's going to be interesting to see if she's challenged from the right come 2012," said PPP president Dean Debnam, in the polling memo. "Is she going to be pushed into a corner the way Arlen Specter was where her only prospect for political survival is a party switch? It's certainly something political observers across the country will be watching."

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Health Care

Health Care Pulling Democrats On Left And Right, With Obama In The Middle

Christina Bellantoni | October 21, 2009, 1:40PM

United States Capitol

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is the power player right now, negotiating a careful merger between two bills with a goal of reaching 60 votes in his chamber. But the two other major players - the White House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi's House are left in a bit of a holding pattern.

Top White House staffers are helping with the merger, but sources tell TPMDC it's a more hands-off approach (for now) as Reid (D-NV) builds something that his caucus will fully support. Meanwhile, Pelosi (D-CA) is presenting the "robust" public option as the more fiscally responsible choice in hopes of pushing the conservative Blue Dogs closer to support it.

Pelosi is working hard to hit the 218 votes needed for passage by bringing together the most divergent factions in her caucus.

President Obama, for his part, urged Democrats last night to consider unity over the perfect bill, highlighting good things in "the bill you least like."

Progressive Democrats learning of the president's comments this morning were baffled since there seems to be growing support for the public option and the Congressional Budget Office is expected to score the bill with that included as less costly than originally anticipated.

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Health Care

Speaker Pelosi Throws Down The Gauntlet For The Public Option--Will She Succeed?

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2009, 1:17PM

There are no two ways about it. What Speaker Nancy Pelosi's doing in the House of Representatives is a big play, and very, very bold--indicative of her confidence in both the wisdom of the public option as a political and policy tool, and
in her ability to get results out of her 256 member caucus, despite the wide ideological chasm between its most liberal and most conservative members.

Pelosi's pulling out all the stops to pass a health care reform bill with a public option that pays providers at rates slightly higher than Medicare--even if it means she has to squeak a bill out of the House with the barest majority. Since the beginning of the push to pass reform, the public option has been at the center of the fight, pitting Republicans, moderates, and major industry stakeholders against an extremely determined majority of Democrats, progressive interest groups, and the public at large. It has been an epic tug of war, and at times, the pro-public option side seemed on the verge of being yanked into the mud.

But in recent weeks, as the health insurance industry further disgraced itself by rolling out the big anti-reform guns, and liberal leaders in both the House and Senate made it clear that they view the public option as an essential component of reform--one that serves voters' interests, and saves money--even if the White House isn't willing to put its full weight behind the measure.

It's in that context that Pelosi is running thiis public option endgame.

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Health Care

Key Senators, White House Officials, To Discuss Public Option Tonight

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2009, 12:20PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Silence is golden. That's Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's mantra as he heads the delicate process of crafting a single Senate health care bill from two separate packages. But so far, the House's swift and decisive action on the public option seems to have had little impact on the hiss position.

Reid is adamant that the insurance industry should lose a decades-old anti-trust exemption that allows companies to divvy up markets and agree not to compete against one another. But he and other senators are still mum about whether they'll systematically end the non-competitive nature of health insurance markets by including a public option in the Senate's health care bill.

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VA-GOV

GOP Jumps On Deeds' Public Option Remarks

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 21, 2009, 11:50AM

Virginia Republicans are highlighting Creigh Deeds' (D) remarks about a public option from last night's gubernatorial debate as another example of what the party claims is Deeds' desire to have it both ways on national issues.

At the traditional post-debate press gaggle last night Deeds was peppered with questions about the public option, which he said he would "consider opting out of" if such an option was available to states in a final health care reform bill. Asked by a reporter if he was opposed to the public option, Deeds exclaimed, "No! I never said that!"

The state GOP posted video of the moment this morning.

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Health Care

HCAN's Kirsch: We're Glad To See Strong Support For Public Option...Let's Do It

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2009, 10:58AM

Health Care for America Now is the largest reform campaign in the country. It's also the group that set the parameters for the public option that have defined the debate over the provision for months. Today, HCAN campaign director Richard Kirsch sees Pelosi's push for a "robust" public option as a validation of both the politics and policy of the popular measure.

"We're glad to see, as the Speaker points out, strong support [for the robust public option] over 200 members," Kirsch says.

"This is not just an ideological battle," he adds. "At the heart this is a battle about quality of care...it's also about saving money, for making health care more affordable. A strong public option will save $110 billion."

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AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO Applauds Pelosi For 'Leading The Fight' For Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2009, 9:55AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

The AFL-CIO has been one of the most vocal advocates of a public option in the Democratic coalition. So it's no surprise they're thrilled with Pelosi's push for a public option.

"It is critical that the health care bill includes a public option to control costs through competition and breaks the stranglehold the insurance companies have over the system," says AFL-CIO spokesman Eddie Vale. "We applaud Speaker Pelosi for continuing to lead the fight to include a robust public option and America's workers and 57% of the public stand with her."

In a way, Pelosi's bold action is an outgrowth of the desires of much of the reform community. Expect the reactions on the left to the news to be comparably ecstatic.

Health Care

New Union Health Care Ad: 'Harry, Harry He's Our Man'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 21, 2009, 9:50AM

Labor group Americans United For Change are up with a new radio ad in Nevada praising Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid for running the health care reform "marathon" in the Senate and says pro-public option advocates are "lucky" to have Reid carrying "the baton."

Greg Sargent reports:

The none-too-subtle message: Getting health care reform through the Senate will make Reid a hero -- if it includes a public option.

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VA-GOV

Deeds: 'I Would Consider Opting Out' Of A Public Option

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 21, 2009, 9:27AM

VA-GOV candidate Creigh Deeds (D)

At the final debate of race last night, Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds said he "shared the broad goals" of health care reform, but would "certainly consider opting out" of a public option "if that were available to Virginia."

"I'm not afraid of going against my fellow Democrats when they're wrong," Deeds said. "A public option isn't required in my view."

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Health Care

Pelosi Whipping House Health Care Plan--Including Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 21, 2009, 9:07AM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

As I reported last night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making a concerted push to pass a health care bill with a robust public option. In previous weeks, Pelosi maintained that House health care principals were still hashing out whether the public option in the bill would pay providers Medicare-like reimbursement rates, or whether those rates would be negotiated by administrators.

But a favorable CBO report seems to have settled all that, and Pelosi's decided to go all in for a public option.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn's operation will be in full swing today, rounding up the last of the 218 votes needed for passage. Rural Democrats and some Blue Dogs are not likely pleased, and many will surely oppose the bill--we'll be keeping an eye on their actions today.

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Health Care

Obama Tells Dems They Can Be 'Own Worst Enemies' And Asks For Health Care Unity

Christina Bellantoni | October 20, 2009, 10:36PM

President Barack Obama

President Obama tonight pleaded with Democrats to remain unified in the final health care stretch, detailing for his loyal supporters in New York the good things in "the bill you least like."

"There are going to be some disagreements and details to work out ... but I want to say to you Democrats, let's make sure that we keep our eye on the prize," Obama said during a Webcast for the thousands of Organizing for America volunteers who were gathered for call parties across the country.

"Sometimes Democrats can be their own worst enemies, Democrats are an opinionated bunch ... y'all are thinking for yourselves," he said. "I like that in you, but it's time for us to make sure that we finish the job here. We are this close and we've got to be unified."

Obama said "the bill you least like in Congress right now, of the five that are out there," would give 29 million uninsured Americans health care, would ban preexisting conditions and would create an exchange that would encourage competition among ensurers.

His comments were live in front of an audience in a New York ballroom, and streamed out to the parties (where volunteers were proud they made more than 234,000 calls to Congress today). The refrain about "the bill you least like" sounded a bit like presidential foreshadowing since senators are meeting privately to merge the more conservative Senate Finance Committee bill with the more liberal Health, Education, Labor and Pensions version.

(Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is standing firm.)

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Health Care

Pelosi Prepares To Move Ahead With Robust Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2009, 8:09PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

New CBO numbers may have sealed the deal. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is preparing to move ahead with a "robust" public option--one that reimburses hospitals and providers at Medicare rates, plus five percent--in the House's health care bill. She is briefing her caucus about the plan's savings tonight, and, pending the approval of a sufficient majority of members, will adopt the measure as part of the complete reform package.

The analysis finds the reconstituted House proposal to be deficit neutral, and require less than $900 billion (reportedly around $870 billion) in new spending, over ten years.

The bill remains nominally more expensive than the Senate Finance Committee proposal, but would cover 96 percent of all Americans, providing greater bang for each federal dollar spent. And, aides note, the bill that comes to the floor of the Senate will be a hybrid of the Finance and more expensive HELP Committee bills, so the price is expected to rise.

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Health Care

Dems Keep Quiet As Leaders Hash Out Key Health Care Details

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2009, 6:35PM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV); Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; Senator Max Baucus (D-MT); Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)

Another day, and still a dearth of details. Senators and White House officials were almost comically tight-lipped throughout the afternoon on the progress of health care reform negotiations, even though it's clear by now that the people in the room hashing out the Senate's bill are getting down to the nitty gritty.

During a weekly caucus meeting, Democrats were briefed on the details of last night's health care powwow, yet, afterward, none were forthcoming with details.

"What I'm especially pleased about is that we're not rushing," said Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE). "I'm sure there's some who are impatient."

"It wasn't a townhall meeting at all. It was more like a prayer meeting," said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who declined to divulge any specifics.

"We got into it a little bit, not a lot," added Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). "[Leadership is] extremely open and working with everybody."

In a moment of coyness gone awry, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters, "we're leaning towards talking about the public option." Last night his spokesman Jim Manley said, without going into detail, that Senate and White House negotiators discussed "the public option, affordability, and other key issues," during their evening scrum.

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Health Care

Organizing For America Hits Another Goal As Hill Staffers Say Phones Are Ringing Off The Hook

Christina Bellantoni | October 20, 2009, 4:11PM

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

The Congressional switchboards have been lighting up all day with health care supporters calling members through the Organizing for America call parties, and OFA is about to hit its second goal of 150,000 calls.

A staffer for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) called to detail that office's experiences with the calls today, saying the volunteers offer a sample of varying perspectives on health care. Some are calling for a single-payer system, some are asking the Congresswoman to stand firm for a public option, while others are offering general support for President Obama's plan.

The staffer told TPMDC that more than 100 calls flooded in today. During a daily staff meeting they usually can have one person listen for the calls, but today they had to halt the meeting so a handful of aides could answer the phones.

"It's more calls in a single day than we've ever received on health care, and pales in comparison to efforts done by opponents. It's no small feat," the Schakowsky staffer told me. "It's definitely noticed and having an effect."

Work for a member of Congress? Is your phone ringing? Please share your stories with us.

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Ben Nelson

Nelson: Public Option May Be Popular, But Opt-Outs Are Really Popular

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2009, 3:49PM

For weeks now, Greg Sargent has been making the point that, though polling shows the public wants health care reform to be bipartisan, what it really shows is that people think bipartisanship is nice, they'd happily scotch it if that's what it takes to secure a public option.

That doesn't exactly square with the pronouncements of some conservative Democrats--particularly Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)--who say bipartisanship is a crucial part of health care reform's legitimacy with the public. I caught up with Nelson earlier today and asked him to speak to the poll's findings.

"Well, there are different kinds of public options.... What was interesting in the poll numbers that I saw, that while there's support for public option generally, generically, when you start talking about it specifically as it relates to states being able to opt out or opt in, have their own, the support overwhelmingly goes up to 76 percent."

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Health Care

Reid: We're Leaning Toward Talking About The Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2009, 3:30PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid played coy on health care reform today, saying he hopes to get legislation to CBO "soon," and that he, along with other senators and White House officials, are "leaning toward talking about a public option."

But he did have one somewhat telling thing to say: "I've had a number of meetings in my office, dealing with Democrats and Republicans on the public option aspect of it...when the decision's made to send this on to the CBO, I will have made a decision as to what we're going to do with the public option. It's not done yet."

This confirms to some extent what I reported last week--that though Reid isn't taking members to task publicly for standing in the way of the public option, he's meeting with them behind the scenes. But it also show's that he's not willing to pose the question of the public option as starkly as is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will ask the CBO to analyze different versions of the public option, and then employ those numbers to convince skeptics in her own party that the public option is the fiscally responsible course.

Reid, by contrast, says he will make the decision about the public option based on negotiations with his members and the White House, but won't use so blunt an object as a CBO analysis to pressure conservative Democrats to get on board.

Health Care

Organizing For America About To Win Low Expectations Game

Christina Bellantoni | October 20, 2009, 2:02PM

Organizing for America, the spinoff of the Obama campaign, set a goal of 100,000 phone calls to members of Congress on health care today.

When we broke the news last week that President Obama would join the call-in parties via Webcast tonight, a Hill Republican said the number of calls seemed low given the size of the OFA email list.

Well the Democratic National Committee has offered a peek at their (self-reported) figures, and have been tweeting updates from the Obama Twitter feed all day. At 12:08, they tweeted it had reached 35,000 calls. At 12:53, it was up to 50,000.

As of this writing, it's passed 90,000 calls. It went up by a few thousand calls in the last few minutes, so they will be hitting 100,000 fairly soon. My bet is they will trumpet that as a grassroots win and then raise the goal.

After the jump, a look at the widget tracking the calls.

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Health Care

Democrats Face Long Slog As They Try To Finish Health Care By Year's End

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2009, 11:34AM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

With no firm deadline in the Senate, but a health care bill expected on the floor next month, it's probably worth laying out a rough time line for the larger reform effort.

The House will soon have a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office on its health care bill--including three different variants of the public option--and will then proceed to a floor debate and vote. Compared to the Senate, this entire process should be relatively painless.

On the other side of the Hill, the floor debate could take weeks.

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Chris Dodd

Health Care Negotiations Between Senate, White House Continue Tonight

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2009, 10:06AM

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

The intricate process of turning two very different health care bills into one will continue tonight, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hosts Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Max Baucus (D-MT), and a number of high-level White House officials in his offices tonight.

Last night, Reid spokesman Jim Manley said the health care bill will come to the floor just as soon as a CBO cost estimate is available. Before negotiations got under way in earnest, Reid suggested that the Senate would begin debate on a single piece of legislation on October 26, but aides now caution that we're more likely to see action in the first or second week of November.

Before that time, negotiators will have to make some potentially monumental decisions, including whether or not the bill that comes to the floor will include a public option. We'll keep tabs for you.

AHIP

Ignagni: Misleading AHIP Study? What Misleading AHIP Study?

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2009, 9:50AM

Robert Zirkelbach, Press Secretary AHIP, Pricewaterhouse Coopers building, CEO Karen Ignagni

Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), has penned something a wee bit shy of a mea culpa, explaining away last week's much-derided industry study finding that health care reforms will cause people's premiums to skyrocket.

According to Ignagni, AHIP never meant to hide the ball from anybody:

The study clearly states that its analysis covers only these provisions and specifically notes that it did not factor in the impact of proposed premium subsidies. Nevertheless, critics have charged that the study nefariously hid the fact that it omitted provisions designed to enhance affordability, such as the subsidies and a grandfathering clause.

Elided here is the fact that AHIP asked PricewaterhouseCoopers specifically not to include the mitigating factors of subsidies and other affordability measures, in an attempt to make it seem as if Congress was on the verge of passing legislation that would cause everyone's insurance premiums to skyrocket.

Also elided is that, as has been widely reported, AHIP misled the White House about the existence of the study, despite being a nominal partner in the White House's reform efforts.

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Health Care

White House, Senate Principals Discuss Public Option, But Reach No Decisions--Talks Continue Tuesday

Brian Beutler | October 19, 2009, 7:36PM

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV); Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; Senator Max Baucus (D-MT); Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)

Senate health care leaders, and White House officials including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle and Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Max Baucus (D-MT), Harry Reid (D-NV), met behind closed doors for over an hour in a leadership office Monday night to discuss and negotiate the merging of two different health care bills.

A spokesman for Reid was mum about the details, except to say that the group discussed the public option, affordability and other issues at the heart of the plan to reform the nation's health care system.

The same officials are expected to huddle again Tuesday to continue the talks.

Health Care

The Big Huddle: Where Health Care Goes From Here

Christina Bellantoni | October 19, 2009, 6:30PM

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Max Baucus (D-MT)

Top Senate Democrats are huddling behind closed doors this evening with key White House advisors in hopes of crafting a health care bill that hits one big magic number: 60.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is the referee between Sen. Max Baucus' more conservative bill and Sen. Chris Dodd's more liberal one, and the White House deployed chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and presidential health care adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle.

It's a merger meeting extraordinaire.

The group has been quiet on goals for the evening, and the White House has taken a step back from official comments to let the Senate do its business. Aides know it's now in Reid's court to come up with a bill that can keep his caucus in line, though Hill staffers want President Obama to lay out his dealbreakers.

The group is under pressure to get a deal done quickly, but they also are attempting to avoid the media spotlight as dozens of reporters camp outside Reid's senate office.

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John Mackey

Whole Foods' John Mackey On Why People Hate Him And Voting For Bob Barr

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 19, 2009, 4:38PM

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey says he knows why so many people hate him after his August op-ed opposing President Obama's health care reform goals.

"People try to size you up for what team your on," he told the editors of the Libertarian magazine Reason in an hour-long interview last month. "If you're on their team they love you and if you're on the other team they hate you."

Mackey then divulges what team he's on. "I voted for Bob Barr," he said when asked who he supported for president in 2008. Barr, a former GOP representative, was the Libertarian nominee. "I liked Ron Paul, but he didn't get the Republican nomination, regretfully."

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Health Care

Top Aide: It's Time For The White House To Take Stand On Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 19, 2009, 4:36PM

Last week, at a meeting between Senate health care principals and Obama administration officials, the White House basically told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid it would be leaving most of the big legislative decisions on reform to him. This week, Reid is faced with an onslaught from pressure groups, including labor and the grassroots, demanding that he include the public option in the health care bill he brings to the floor.

In a sign that Reid may be willing to acquiesce, if only the White House helps him whip the caucus into shape, a top Capitol Hill aide tells me "Right now, we don't have 60 Democratic Senators in lockstep with one another on the public option...we need the president to send a strong signal to those in the room negotiating the merger, that the public option is, really, what he wants in the final bill."

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Jim Marshall

Blue Dog Jim Marshall Again Compares Current Health Care System, Including Medicare And Medicaid, To Soviet Union

Eric Kleefeld | October 19, 2009, 3:06PM

Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA)

Blue Dog Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA) appeared on Fox this afternoon, and compared the current health care system -- including Medicare and Medicaid -- to the Soviet Union.

"We've got this sort of central payment system, which is a fundamental problem. It's health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, making the payments, and we've got consumers and doctors pretty divorced from the costs associated with the decisions that are being made," said Marshall. "As a result, we've had an explosion in cost. I think we've got to see a fundamental change in the system that we've got right now for payment. If we don't do that, we'll continue to have opportunities to fix waste, fraud and abuse, because systems that are centrally planned and controlled -- like the Soviet system -- are just full of those kinds of issues."

Marshall has previously made this comparison, saying back in September: "Beginning in World War II, American health care gradually migrated to an inefficient, Soviet-style system of central control and planning provided by health insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid."

Health Care

Baucus: The Public Option Is Alive...We're Just Not Sure What Type

Brian Beutler | October 19, 2009, 2:52PM

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)

On a conference call with reporters moments ago, Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus said that the public option is still alive, adding, in a familiar refrain, that the question for Democrats now is what kind of public option can get 60 votes.

The goal, Baucus said, was to include something in the bill that keeps premiums down and keeps insurance companies honest. "We just need to find ways to help reach that goal, in addition to the provisions in the bill," Baucus said.

Baucus cited several permutations of public option proposals under discussion, including what he described as "Medicare light [the robust public option], even playing field [proposed by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), there's co-ops--that's private, not public--there's opt in, opt out," Baucus said.

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Health Care

Pelosi Aims to Squeeze Skeptics on Public Option With Cheaper Bill Than Senate

Brian Beutler | October 19, 2009, 12:41PM

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

The House health care bill is getting cheaper, but Democrats aren't boasting just yet. Because when they ultimately break silence the hope is to present conservative Democrats in both chambers with a bill that will walk the walk of fiscal responsibility--including a public option, which is projected to save the government billions.

As always, the legislative process is unpredictable, and the Senate is operating in isolation from the House. But with the public option potentially in the balance, Speaker Pelosi's goal is this: present conservative Democrats in both chambers with a Hobson's choice between a public option bill and a potentially more expensive Senate bill that may have no public option at all.

On Friday, the Washington Post ran with leaked CBO numbers, showing that House health care leaders have reduced the price tag of their bill by at least $100 billion. The numbers were preliminary--not reflective of the current state of the legislation, which is changing constantly--but they showed a definite downward trajectory in the overall cost of its reform plan.

Still, leadership was not pleased.

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Health Care

Sen. Lincoln Hammered With Questions On Public Option During Online Chat

Christina Bellantoni | October 19, 2009, 10:38AM

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

Public option supporters bombarded Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) with questions last night about why she doesn't back a public option in the health care fight, with one constituent fretting about losing her seat to a Republican.

"We are terribly disappointed that you have caved in to the insurance industry and failed to support the public option for health care. It may very well affect our vote for you in the next election," Ray and Judy told her on the chat, which is posted online.

"Unfortunately the insurance companies opposed the bill I supported in the Finance Committee. There are many ways to provide greater options and choices to individuals, including non-profits, a state plan, and a co-op plan," Lincoln wrote back.

But that wasn't the last word. Lincoln got six more questions along the same lines.

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Health Care

Harkin: Handful Of Public Option Opponents Should Bend To 'Vast Majority' Of Dem Party

Brian Beutler | October 19, 2009, 9:54AM

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Here's another nugget exemplifying the intense pressure Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is facing from both elected Democrats and grassroots liberals to make sure health care legislation includes a public option.

"There are 52 solid Democrats for the public option," said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). "Only about five Democrats oppose it. Should the 52 give in to the five? Or should the five go along with the vast majority of the Democratic caucus?"

Last Thursday, at a heated Democratic caucus lunch, several Democrats rose to give impassioned arguments in favor of the public option. And, with the exception of Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), who gave a counterargument for private co-ops, the handful of public option opponents in the Senate were silent.

Terry McAuliffe

McAuliffe On Public Option's Chances: 'Probably Not, No'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | October 16, 2009, 4:43PM

Former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe

In an exclusive interview with TPMDC this afternoon, former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe said that from his vantage point, the public option is likely dead in the health care debate.

In the past, McAuliffe has said he any bill without a public option would be a failure. Today, though, he said he'd support a compromise bill because "we've got to pass something."

McAuliffe spoke with TPMDC before he heads out on the campaign trail next week for fellow Democrat Creigh Deeds, who defeated McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial primary. McAuliffe touched on a number of subjects, including the Virginia race (more on that in a later post.)

Asked about the chances for a public option now that health care reform bills have reached the floor in both houses of Congress, McAuliffe -- an ardent supporter of expanding government-run care as part of health care reform -- said he he wouldn't bet on one being part of a final bill.

"Probably not, no," he said. "I wish we could have a public option, but I'm also a realist."

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Health Care

Progressive Groups Prep Ads To Pressure Reid on Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 16, 2009, 4:19PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Remember a couple weeks ago when I reported that progressive groups were organizing a campaign--including television ads--to pressure Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to include the public option in the Senate health care bill, and to enforce party unanimity against GOP filibusters?

Well, check out a new letter, available below the fold, from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee to its supporters.

Bold progressive Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) helped us deliver nearly 90,000 petition signatures to Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday....

We demanded that Reid stand up to conservative Democrats who are threatening to help Republicans block an up-or-down vote on the public option. CNN, ABC, Huffington Post, Washington Post, and others covered the event....

This weekend, we'll be filming a TV ad in Nevada featuring one of Reid's constituents who desperately needs the public option. It will be powerful. More on that next week...

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Health Care

Lieberman: I'd Be 'Inclined' To Help Break GOP Filibuster

Rachel Slajda | October 16, 2009, 4:15PM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), whose vote would most likely be necessary to break a Republican filibuster on health care reform, said Thursday that he's "inclined to let the motion to proceed."

But, he added, "I haven't decided yet."

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Health Care

Sen. Lincoln Asks Constituents To Join Her On Health Care Chat Saturday

Christina Bellantoni | October 16, 2009, 3:50PM

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

Sen. Blanche Lincoln is asking her supporters to join her for an online chat about health care Sunday night.

"Later this month, the full Senate will begin consideration of health insurance reform and I have made it clear that I will only support the final version if it is best for my constituents in Arkansas," she wrote in a letter to her supporters today. "As we move to the next stage of this debate, I want to hear from you."

In the letter, Lincoln reprised her talking point from the week that she voted for the Senate Finance Committee version of the bill "not because it was a perfect bill but because it was a major step toward improving health care for Arkansas families."

The chat can be found here and will be held Sunday at 5 p.m. central time.

Portions of her email after the jump.

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Health Care

Ross Says He Once Suggested A Medicare Buy-In As A Replacement For Separate Public Option

Brian Beutler | October 15, 2009, 6:39PM

Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR)

Earlier today, The Hill ran with an eye-catching statement from Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR)--the chair of the Blue Dog's health care task force who recently announced he doesn't support a public option.

"I -- speaking only on behalf of myself -- suggested one possible idea could be that instead of creating an entirely new government bureaucracy to administer a public option, Medicare could be offered as a choice," Ross said.

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Health Care

Is Harry Reid Working The Inside Game For A Public Option?

Brian Beutler | October 15, 2009, 6:09PM

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid isn't exactly accustomed to kind words from progressives these days. With a health care reform fight that feels endless, and an intractable bloc of conservative Democrats refusing to play nice on the public option, Reid has become a common whipping boy for activists who think he hasn't done enough to strong arm his 60 voting members into giving health care reform an up or down vote.

So it comes as some surprise that two prominent progressive figures, approached by TPMDC, said that much has changed since the summer--and particularly in the last couple weeks--and that Reid is working the inside game for the public option.

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Health Care

Rahmbo Walked Down The Hall

Christina Bellantoni | October 15, 2009, 5:43PM

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel paid a visit to his old pals in the House of Representatives yesterday.

Emanuel, on the Hill to discuss merging two Senate health care bills, also huddled later in the afternoon with Speaker Nancy Pelosi TPMDC has learned. A former representative from Illinois, Emanuel has been in frequent contact with members.

As we reported earlier, the House isn't being included in the negotiations yet. A Hill source notes the three bills from the House are closer to each other than the two Senate bills.