kent conrad

Yesterday, Obama positioned the public option as something that everybody was getting hung up on. Not only that Kent Conrad said he wouldn’t vote for legislation that had it in it and neither would Blue Dog Dems or moderate Repubs.

Well, now HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is continuing the meme that the public option isn’t necessary…and if that’s the case, well, it’s dead folks.

To pass health care legislation, Democrats in the Senate have had to make some compromises. Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota says the Senate doesn't have the votes to pass the public option plan favored by President Obama.

Conrad talks to Steve Inskeep about his plan to use nonprofit cooperatives to compete with private insurers.

“There’s been no final resolution, but I think there’s a good chance the cooperative plan will be adopted, at least at the committee level.

The notion of a cooperative plan is that it’s membership-controlled, membership-run — not government-run, government-controlled.”
- Kent Conrad on CNBC talking about the only workable national health care solution

Universal Health Care...

How?

The moment I heard Kent Conrad’s plan I knew it could pick up steam as a bipartisan solution…especially since it was designed to do just that.

After the CBO projected major deficits, the plan was revised and recirculated.

And this comes just in the nick of time, as Daschle & Dole’s “state run healthcare” plan has made a major splash today.

House Dems are bound and determined to make a public option their first priority, and I can understand why.

This has been a long time coming and they’re convinced that only the federal government can compete with private industry.

Simply put, because heath care reform may not happen without it.

They simply don’t have the votes to reach 60.