Chuck Schumer apparently laid down the gauntlet after failing to bring any Republicans in on real reforms in the healthcare debate:
Democrats generally are standing behind their position that a health care system overhaul must include a government-sponsored plan that would be available to middle-class workers and their families.
A key Democrat, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, said this option now seems even more of a necessity in view of unsuccessful behind-the-scenes attempts to get a deal with Republicans on nonprofit co-ops as an alternative to a public plan.
Schumer told The Associated Press Sunday night that those efforts have proved frustrating, saying that he and his Democratic colleagues now may have to go it alone.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Democrats have become increasingly frustrated after trying to compromise with Republicans and pulling back a bloody nub after they "reached out":
The co-ops were seen as perhaps the last hope for compromise on the notion of a public health care option, a contentious issue that threatens any remaining prospects of bipartisan support for President Barack Obama's sweeping plan to remake the health care system.
"I don't think I could say with a straight face that this (co-op proposal) is at all close to a nationwide public option," Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday. "Right now, this co-op idea doesn't come close to satisfying anyone who wants a public plan."
Democrats generally support the public option and Republicans of course are against anything that puts people over profit:
Proponents say the option of a public plan in the marketplace would put a brake on costs and check the power of insurers. But Republicans, insurers and many business leaders say a government plan could drive private insurance companies out of business.
What the party of no ideas, and just plain no will not tell you is that private insurance has controlled the healthcare market and made it into the huge mess it now is. The only solutions they can offer maintain the status-quo. Private insurance with their refusals to pay, dropping of coverage and other moves to placate their own greed have left millions of Americans behind. Their arguments are as empty as their rhetoric:
"The most important thing for us to make sure is that we do increase coverage to a basic plan for more Americans and the way we're going to do that is starting with where people get most of their health care, and that's their employer," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Monday. "We've got to be sure to make it so those employers can keep their health care costs down."
Cantor, appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," said that "a government plan, no matter what you call it, will increase costs" and limit choices.
Limit choices?? Choices are already limited for millions of Americans who either cannot afford insurance or have been denied by the wonderful insurance companies Cantor seeks to defend. Insurance companies have run roughshod over Americans and a public option will finally keep them honest and INCREASE choice. If insurance companies refuse to cover Americans at a reasonable cost for the first time ever they will be able to choose a plan that will.
Cantor's view is not shared by Americans and is not shared by many within his own party:
Two recent news media polls have found public support for a government plan, even if many people are unsure about its implications. The most recent survey, a New York Times-CBS News poll released Sunday, found that 72 percent supported the idea, including half of those who identified themselves as Republicans.
"The polling data backs up our substantive view that to make health care reform work, you need a public option," said Schumer.
With that in mind there is no reason why Democrats should not fight like hell for the reforms they believe in and the majority of Americans support. In fact, not doing so will destroy our party as Americans will once again see us as a party with ideas and solutions that is simply too cowardly to fight for them. Millions of Americans on all sides of the political spectrum are depending on us to fight for them and we simply cannot let them down. The result will be electoral disaster.
Democrats should take a page from the book of one of their own, a Democratic Senator with a spine that has never been afraid to roll up his sleeves and fight for progress:
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