Public Option Not Dead On the Hill
TweetA coalition of House Democrats is gearing up to propose legislation which revives the public option President Obama had originally hoped to carry through this year’s healthcare overhaul. The legislation House Democrats plan to introduce today would establish a government-administered insurance option available to consumers as part of The Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges.
Public Option Not Dead On the Hill
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), has 125 co-sponsors and is similar to the public option originally passed by the House Education and Labor Committee earlier this year but adjusted to fit within the framework of insurance exchanges which eventually made it into the reform debate’s final product. Woolsey says the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has scored this legislation better than the public option in the House’s original healthcare bill. This bill sets public option reimbursement rates at 5% above Medicare rates.
Though most proponents admit it’s unlikely the bill would come to a vote this Congress, its co-sponsors argue if passed it would help bring down the deficit. For this reason, although it is unlikely the bill will pass this year its co-sponsors defend its introduction on a symbolic basis. By reintroducing it, they hope to remind legislators and votes alike that the public option is a viable option.
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