on NPR Obama defends health reform bill as historic

President Barack Obama, in an interview with NPR, pushed back against those on the left who complain that the health care bill about to be voted by the Senate is fatally flawed because it lacks a government insurance plan - a "public option". It is the biggest reform since Medicare, perhaps Social Security, says the President, slipping uncharacteristically into hyperbole. The transcript is HERE.

I agree with Paul Waldman of the American Prospect. Although it is galling to be forced by the likes of Joseph Lieberman and the cloture rule to take a big bite out of what a majority is ready to embrace, Waldman explains:

For all its weaknesses, even the Senate's version of health reform, which would hopefully move more in the direction of the House's version when the two are merged in conference, contains an extraordinary number of beneficial features. (You can find an excellent summary of both bills here, from the Kaiser Family Foundation.)

It insures over 30 million more people.

It expands Medicaid coverage.

It outlaws denials for pre-existing conditions, rescission, gender discrimination in premiums, and both annual and lifetime coverage caps.

It provides hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies for low- and middle-income people to buy insurance.

It makes it so if you lose your job, you don't lose your health insurance.

It forces insurers to allow people as old as 26 to stay on their parents' policies.

It establishes dozens of pilot programs to test new ways of saving money and improving care. All of these provisions, and many others, will substantially improve people's lives.

And the insurance exchange puts in place the structure through which further improvements can be made in the years ahead.

Josh Marshall on the Opt-Out Compromise

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo thinks Sen Reid's Opt Out compromise is pragmatic: the public option will have enough mass to bargain effectively to keep costs down and to exert competitive pressure on private insurers.

HERE is his analysis.

Images: Josh Marshall and son, Sen. Harry Reid

White House: The Public Option: Rumor Check

The White House has responded on its blog to assertions that President Obama is backing down on the public option:

Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on October 25, 2009 at 08:56 PM EDT

A rumor is making the rounds that the White House and Senator Reid are pursuing different strategies on the public option. Those rumors are absolutely false.

In his September 9th address to Congress, President Obama made clear that he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition. That continues to be the President's position.

Senator Reid and his leadership team are now working to get the most effective bill possible approved by the Senate. President Obama completely supports their efforts and has full confidence they will succeed and continue the unprecedented progress that is being made in both the House and Senate.

Dan Pfeiffer is Deputy Communications Director

Progressive Change Campaign Presses Obama on Public Option

Like most progressives I favor a single payer system. Like most progressives I accept that we are not going to get it at this point - because too many people believe in that government that governs least is best (for reasons that escape me almost entirely).

Maine is our second home and we continually hope that Sen. Snowe and Sen. Collins will uphold the honorable tradition of the Republican Party that fought and won the Civil War. Sen. Snowe continues to be the swing vote in the Senate. She is of the view that credibility among Republicans requires her to oppose a government-sponsored health insurance company.

We understand President Obama's need to get something done, and to hold Snowe in as she is the stalking horse for weak links like Joseph Lieberman and other "blue dog" Dems. But we think Sen. Snowe should listen to Maine voters. A public insurance company that pays Medicare rates plus 5% can function efficiently and put decent health insurance within the reach of the great majority of Americans.

The Progressive Change Campaign is delivering that message this weekend as President Obama presses for a weakened (and in my view not-credible) public option triggered by the (likely) failure of the private health insurers to make coverage available to all but a few.