House Liberals Amenable To Bill Without Public Option

Key House liberals said on Sunday that while the public insurance option “is not dead” in negotiations over health care legislation, they are willing to accept a compromise bill without a government-run plan if it meets criteria similar to what a public plan would have addressed.

It is the strongest sign since the Senate passed their version of health care legislation that House Democrats would be open to a compromise that crafts a final product more resembling the moderate Senate bill than the wishes of a more liberal House caucus.  It makes the doomsday scenario of a House demand for a government-run option, dreaded by Democrats and hoped for by Republicans trying to kill reform, a more unrealistic resolution to negotiations between the two chambers.

The White House also hopes talks move swiftly so a bill can be signed by President Obama before his annual speech to Congress sometime in late January or early February.

While insisting “it’s not dead,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Sunday he recognizes realities in the Senate, where Democrats had to scrape up every vote from their side to pass a bill - even one without a government plan to compete in the private insurance marketplace.

“Before the House was to give up the public option, we would want to be persuaded that there are other mechanisms in whatever bill comes out that will keep down premiums,” said Van Hollen. “We’ve got to make sure that the final product is affordable.”

Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House and one who had appealed to President Barack Obama not to yield on the public plan, set out conditions for yielding himself.

“We want a public option to do basically three things: Create more choice for insurers, create more competition for insurance companies, and to contain costs,” Clyburn said. “So if we can come up with a process by which these three things can be done, then I’m all for it. Whether or not we label it a public option or not is of no consequence.”

House aides say that liberals are trying to give in on the public option in order to tweak the Senate version elsewhere.  The Senate bill pays for much of the immediate provisions of reform by taxing expensive “Cadillac” health plans from employers, plans many union members are part of.

The House does not tax expensive insurance plans, instead focusing on higher taxes for wealthy Americans. An easy compromise on the public option could pave the way for a deal on how the legislation will be paid for.

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