WASHINGTON (CNN) – As President Obama seemed to signal that a public insurance plan would not be a make-or-break issue for his health care proposal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday there is still "strong support" among her colleagues for it to be included in the final bill.
Quoting the president saying in March that a public option "gives consumers more choices and it helps keep the private sector honest," Pelosi said that three versions of health care legislation in the House all include it.
"We agree with the President that a public option will keep insurance companies honest and increase competition," Pelosi said in a statement. "A public option is the best option to lower costs, improve the quality of health care, ensure choice and expand coverage. "The public option brings real reform to lower costs over the 10-year period of the bill."
On Saturday, Obama said that a public option is "just one sliver" of his health care plan.
"All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform," Obama said at a town hall meeting on Saturday in Colorado. "This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it."
From CNN Politics
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doggone typos...meant throwing away about....
Public option will mean death to insurance companys but this doesn't matter what's 10s of thousands of people out of work. Pick a number this may take awhile. You can't have competition when public option doew not need a profit. If they loose money all they need to do is tax you more.
Nancy, go back to sleep and don't wake up until your "tour" is over and we can begin with someone that might not be an idiot.
Keeping a public option on the table is what should be happening in the House and the Senate. Thank you Ms. Pelosi for having the courage to do what is right for the American people
I forgot, you are ugly, you need to go hunting with Dick Cheney. He will take care of the situation. Ask the other individual that got shot
Public option only way to go. Let the fear mongering republicans sweat. More people are for public options than not.
Nancy , Please go away with your millions, your great special congress only health insurance and leave the middle class working folks alone. You and the democrats have controlled congress since 2006 and have failed, leave now.
I am 100% with Howard Dean and Speaker Pelosi. Without a public option, there is no health care reform. The Public Plan will save us all lots of money for better things such as better care for all, less burden on our economy, and even more for K-12 education. Our health industry has been racing on a non-productive path and it's time we listen to Dr. James Watson to find a cancer cure. He wrote in NY Times "To Fight Cancer, Know the Enemy" on 8/5/2009.
"As a member of the new National Cancer Advisory Board, I argued that money for “pure cancer research” would be a more prudent expenditure of federal funds than creating new clinical cancer centers."
Our current inefficient and non-productive health care industries are the key obstacle to advanced medicine and innovative discoveries.
The argument that the government will cut the cost of health care is a joke, the province of Alberta in canada pays 13 billion/year to health care for a population of under 3 million people and they have a shortage of doctors, beds, and long line ups for even basic items.
Rich America, Poor Americans. How else would you describe a country that is so devided over finding a viable solution for the health of its citizens. We can put people on the moon, overthrow dictators and rebuild countries. But somehow we can not figuer out how to help 40 to 50 million of our own citizens obtain affordable health care. If we do not resolve the question of health care. What message are we sending the rest of the world as to how we take care of our own?
Use the town hall meetings to let your representative know what you would like to see in a health care plan. Also let them know what you don't want. Under a government sponsored plan every person should be able to see a doctor or go to a hospital as needed.
If you dont need health care reform or the public option
dont complain about it , you may probably already have good insurance, well good for you. ...... But the rest of us need it.
Have a little heart if you have one.
The screamers must make over
250,000 a year or should i say they probably hired the screamers. A third of the screamers are easily misled, others like the money paid, and the others are just full of hatred and racism.
I Agree with Health Reform and the Public Option.