Groups strategize for single-payer plan - Politico.com Print View

Groups strategize for single-payer plan - Politico.com Print View:

"President Barack Obama and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) rarely pass up a chance to snub single-payer health care — a term that means a government-run system. So opponents on the left who want their voices heard in the debate over health care reform are planning to yell a little bit louder as Congress considers creating a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

"Their strategy is simple: By pushing hard for single-payer health care, a robust public insurance option ends up looking like a compromise Democrats could accept.

"“The best way to get half the pie is ask for the whole pie,” said Katie Robbins, assistant national coordinator of Healthcare-Now, which will not endorse the public plan but acknowledges the strategy. “It is like horse trading.”"
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"And here is a hint about why proponents and opponents of the public plan talk so frequently about “choice”: It polls really, really well. Support for the public plan jumped to 78 percent when people were told it would give consumers more options. "

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