It's common knowledge that President Obama supports a public plan option in health insurance reform, although he has dropped his earlier insistence that health care reform "must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans – including a public option."
What might not be as well-known is that he supported a public option during the campaign as well.
For example, the Obama-Biden health care plan included a public plan option funded by large employers who don't provide insurance for their employees.
NEW AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HEALTH INSURANCE OPTIONS. The Obama-Biden plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals purchase new affordable health care options if they are uninsured or want new health insurance. Through the Exchange, any American will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan or an approved private plan, and income-based sliding scale tax credits will be provided for people and families who need it. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and meet the same standards for quality and efficiency.
The Obama-Biden plan provides new affordable health insurance options by...requiring all large employers to contribute towards health coverage for their employees or towards the cost of the public plan.
The Obama-Biden plan was released in the fall of 2008 after Biden joined the ticket, but as a candidate, Obama first detailed his health care plan in May, 2007. The New York Times reported that Obama had proposed a public plan, joining his chief rivals, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
Mr. Obama would create a public plan for individuals who cannot obtain group coverage through their employers or the existing government programs, like Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Children would be required to have health insurance. Subsidies would be available for those who need help with the cost of coverage.
He would also create a National Health Insurance Exchange, a regulated marketplace of competing private health plans intended to give individuals other, more affordable options for coverage. The public plan would compete in that Insurance Exchange, advisers said.
Here's another good example: in a Washington Post candidate profile, Obama was emphatic in his support for a public option:
My plan builds on and improves our current insurance system, which most Americans continue to rely upon, and creates a new public health plan for those currently without coverage. Under my plan, Americans will be able to choose to maintain their current coverage if they choose to. For those without health insurance I will establish a new public insurance program, and provide subsides to afford care for those who need them. My plan includes a mandate that all children have health care coverage and I will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs to help ensure we cover all kids. My plan requires all employers to contribute towards health coverage for their employees or towards the cost of the public plan.
Amazingly, despite President Obama's decisive victory last November and the widespread popularity of a Medicare-style public option, Democrats like Max Baucus and Kent Conrad seem intent on scuttling it, and the White House is now indicating a willingness to play ball.
Perhaps Baucus and Conrad will succeed in torpedoing the public option, but if they do so, remember this: it will be a victory for insurance industry lobbyists, not democracy, because when Americans voted last November, they voted for change, and part of the change they voted for was the creation of public health insurance option.