Presidents Snowe and Obama have been talking, and they've apparently decided that a triggered public option is "very reasonable."
Two senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House looked favorably on the Snowe plan. But liberal Democrats were maneuvering against it Wednesday, arguing that Ms. Snowe, the lone Republican to vote in favor of the Finance Committee’s bill, was gaining undue influence over the talks.
"It’s one vote, she won’t make the commitment on the final product, and she says she’s got to have the trigger," said Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona, who is leading an effort in the House to round up votes for a government plan akin to Medicare. "I think the administration has put her in the driver’s seat; it’s very disconcerting."
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Aides say Mr. Obama has reviewed the alternatives to the public option but has not settled on which, if any, he prefers. And some Democrats say a backlash against insurers is creating renewed interest in a public plan. But in private conversations with Ms. Snowe, Mr. Obama has brought up her idea for a trigger that would create a government-run plan in states where at least 5 percent of residents lacked access to affordable care. One senior White House official called the idea "very reasonable."
Disconcerting is a good way of putting it, considering we have a very large majority in the House, a majority in the Senate, and the White House. It all comes down to what the only Republican who hasn't called Obama a Nazi or a communist wants? Surreal would be another word to describe the situation.
The Progressive Block needs to take Snowe out of the driver's seat, but it's going to take some progressive Senators to do it. They need to take a page from their House counterparts and just say "no." No public option, a no vote from them. That could also involve some creative bargaining. Say for instance, a triggered public option only in the event that we have a triggered individual mandate.
If the public option doesn't trigger until too many people are too poor to afford insurance, then the rest of us shouldn't be forced into rewarding the insurance companies for making their insurance too expensive for too many people. We shouldn't be forced to buy their crappy insurance until they can prove that they'll make it a) affordable, and b) worth the money. In the comments in this morning's liveblog with Gov. Dean, elfling had one formula on the affordability aspect. But in addition to that, the insurers should have to demonstrate that they are playing by the rules--no more cherry picking, no more pre-existing conditions, no more random and capricious denials of care--before they get all the new customers the individual mandate creates.
President Obama and the Senate Dems need to understand one thing very clearly: the public option is very popular, no matter what Snowe thinks. Insurance companies are very unpopular. Forcing people--voters--to give their money to insurers and giving them nothing in return is recipe for total political disaster. Progressives in the House understand that--perhaps because they have to run every two years, they're a little more attuned to what their constituents actually want. Progressives in the Senate need to take that message to heart, and get Snowe out of the driver's seat.