Transcript of that campaign speech:
"In my mind, reproductive care is essential care, it is basic care . . it is at the center and the heart of the plan that I propose. Essentially . . we're going to set up a public plan that all persons and all women can access if they don't have health insurance. It will be a plan that will provide all essential services, including reproductive services." (7/17/07)
And the public plan was featured prominently on Candidate Obama's website, ranking number 1 in his list of healthcare plan goals. There's also more on this below:
September 2008: Then-Candidate Obama's Health Care Proposal Included A New Public Plan And Health Insurance Exchange. The Columbus Dispatch reported:
For starters, Obama's proposal would require that all children have coverage. He would expand the tax-funded children's health-insurance program to make sure that those unable to join private plans were covered. Although Obama would not require adults to have insurance, he would mandate that large businesses either provide coverage to their employees or pay into a new public plan through which anyone without coverage could buy it. Small-business owners would be exempt and would get a 50 percent health-care tax credit to help ease their cost of employee coverage. People without coverage could buy insurance through new public and private plans. Key to Obama's plan is creation of a National Health Insurance Exchange in which private insurers would offer coverage as generous as the government's plan, with new regulations requiring them to accept and not penalize anyone regardless of pre-existing conditions, Tanden said. [Columbus Dispatch, 9/23/08, via Lexis]
October 2008: Senator Obama's Health Care Plan Includes Both Private And Public Options. The Lima News reported: "Voters taking part in a Lima News election roundtable all had stories about their health insurance and skepticism about plans from Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. Obama's plan includes the creation of a national plan of private and public options. Mc-Cain is proposing dramatic change to the taxcode and greater reliance on competition." [The Lima News, 10/5/08, via Lexis]
October 2008: Then-Candidate Obama's Public Option Discussed On NPR. During an October 20, 2008 interview on NPR, Trudy Lieberman, Director of the Health and Medicine Reporting Program at New York City University, said:
"I think we can say that there are really two key aspects of Obama's plan. One is that he would expand Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Plan, which was a program set up by Congress about a decade ago. The second part is something that's a little bit nebulous right now and that's called his public option. He's not quite sure how this will work or how it will actually emerge in any kind of legislative process. But the gist of it is that people would be able to buy insurance from this public plan, and he often says that people would be able to buy the same kind of insurance that members of Congress have. It's not clear whether the insurance provided for the so-called public option will be provided by private carriers or whether it will be a Medicare-like program. In that particular program, the government provides the benefits." [NPR.org, 10/20/08]
The Public Option Was Part Of The Campaign Dialogue Even Before The Democratic Primary
December 2007: Then-Senator Clinton's Health Care Plan Included A Public Option. During the Iowa Heartland Presidential Forum, then-Senator Clinton said: "Well, I totally agree with the doctor's diagnosis, and my plan does that. My plan provides for a public option to compete with private insurance. My plan guarantees that every American is covered by insurance, that no American will be left out." [Iowa Heartland Presidential Forum, 12/2/07, CQ Transcription via Lexis]
This one straight from the OFA websiteis a continuation of that public plan from his campaign healthplan:
Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.
Let's not do revisionist history here, kossacks. President Obama DID campaign on the public plan, now known as the public option, and playing semantics with that is silly. I can't believe that diary is on the rec list saying President Obama never campaigned on the public option when we all damn know that he did campaign on the public plan, and that it was a huge part of his health care plan.
And here's his campaign video, from October 7, 2008:
And he links to his website which also mentions this:
Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.
This is the interview he had with the Des Moines Register on December 1, 2007.
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