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ABC says health care debate reaching 'tipping point'
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by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | October 26, 2009 at 05:24 am
124 views | 18 Recommendations | 2 comments
While ABC News declares the healthcare reform debate may be nearing the tipping point, the Wall Street journal continues to say that Americans are suspicious of the public option, because it will limit respect for personal ambition and its rewards. Many believe it comes down to the free enterprise and American ambition idealism on the one hand, and expanded government and state on the other.
Why it would be unclear that the former has been played out and the latter is now long overdue remains a question of ideology and not reality. There seems also to be a too-rosy picture made of personal ambition while ignoring the dark sides as the over-arching greed and lies which accompany it may reveal. Human beings are too flawed to not be checked and regulated at certain historical junctures.
The long health care reform debate may reach the tipping point this week. The Senate leader believes he is within a day or two of getting a filibuster-proof 60 votes.
Publicly, Harry Reid has gone silent, working the phones and, behind closed doors, trying to meld together five bills. And he is resurrecting the "public option" to compete with private insurance.
"There's nobody better at the counting votes than he is," says Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. "I think we're very close to getting the 60 votes we need to move forward," the democrat told NBC's "Meet the Press."
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 07:51 on October 26th, 2009
The lengthy debate has faired well for the addition of the public option. It gave Americans the time they needed to learn about it and understand how it works for them. The majority of Americans 54% want the public option. And it is notable that a majority is also in the Blue Dog Democrats' states.
Sixty votes are needed to end debate, but only 51 to pass the bill. If a Democrat voted against ending debate, it could be disasterous for their status in the Democratic Senate as they risk being stripped of chairmanships and committee positions. Also, if the majority of Americans want the public option and the Democratic Senate is representative of that majority, it is incumbant upon them to vote for the will of the people.
at 20:50 on October 26th, 2009
Actually, the percentage has gone up. It's 61% now, I was giving information from last week's polls.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/10/22/the-polls-and-the-public-option/
Sixty-one percent favor a public insurance option to compete with private insurers while 38 percent oppose it and 1 percent are undecided, according to CNN. In late August, when support for a health care overhaul fell to a low, 55 percent supported it, 41 percent opposed it and 4 percent were undecided.
http://www.truthout.org/1026096
Supporters of a public plan have also been helped by the facts. The Congressional Budget Office's analysis shows that a robust public plan, with rates tied to Medicare rates, can save $100 billion over the next decade. This is a substantial portion of the money needed to cover the cost of the health care bill. Given the popular support for a public plan and the evidence that it could save substantial amounts of money, it is clear that opponents of a public option are not responding to constituents or concerns over costs.