Specter: Schumer Has It Right On The Public Option

[waiting for hope]

By Brian Beutler - June 25, 2009, 4:15PM

Speaking moments ago to a large and animated crowd of union organizers and health reform advocates in a brewing house just North of the Capitol, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) said he supports a public insurance option.

"Schumer has it right about having a public component," Specter said.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has taken a lead role on negotiations over the public option in the Senate Finance Committee, and earlier this year proposed a compromise: the committee's health care bill should include a public plan, he said, but one that competes on a level playing field with other insurers. Such an entity wouldn't be able to use its sheer size to set prices the way Medicare does--but it could nonetheless incur savings in a host of other ways, and in so doing drive down the cost of health insurance in the private market.

Perhaps more importantly, though, the Schumer proposal is in line with the principles of the major reform campaign Health Care for America Now--and, as such, just about every major health care and labor organization in the country.

Before Specter switched parties this spring--and for a brief period afterward--he said he did not support the public option. But as a Democrat he's facing different pressures--notably from Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) who plans to challenge Specter in next year's primary--and he's begun tacking to the left as a result.

HCAN hosted today's event, which also included rallying, lobbying, and other town halls with members of Congress. The Pennsylvania forum--which also featured a Sestak appearance--was a standing-room only affair. Both the ground floor and the balcony levels of the Capitol City Brewing Company were filled seemingly beyond capacity, with many guests forced to sit on the staircase or stand in the nearby entryway to the National Postal Museum.


More at Link

Frankly - if Specter wants to support Schumer and a public option, I don't give a rat's ass that he is an opportunist, at least he is realizing what the public wants.

[Cleita]

1. Seems like Congress is walking down the Primrose path on this one

by not even having a debate about single payer. This means that no one will be able to make their case before the houses of Congress because I believe they are afraid such a debate would expose the corporate Congre$$ional whores for what they are.