GOP Senator Supports Healthcare Bill, Possible Public Option

The so-called "public option" that is largely at the heart of ongoing legislative debate over healthcare reform appears to have gained some new life yesterday. Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, of Maine, voted "yes" on a Senate Finance bill revolving around healthcare legislation on Wednesday, making her the lone Republican to do so. In an attempt to make the "public option" more palatable, it is being spun a bit differently. Snowe herself is suggesting not starting off with government-run insurance plans, but making them kick in later if insurance companies fail to bring down their costs. Snowe remains against the government option outside of this context.

Another proposal that has been put forth by Senator Tom Carper, D-Delaware, would let each of the states decide whether to offer public health insurance coverage, a move that would put the power of government behind the people without the federal government getting its greasy fingers on the deal. After both approaches where put forth as potential options, it was a matter of some creative thinking to combine the two. Said Len Nichols of the New America Foundation, "Those are all elements that one could easily fashion into an outcome that would seem to be elegant."

Nichols also noted, "It would show the left: ‘Look, we will be there when we’re needed if coverage is not affordable.’ And it would show the right that this is not some backdoor government takeover, because we’re only going where we’re needed, either if the states decide or if the conditions are such that competition is needed."