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Public Option on the table.

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From HuffPo

Four senators have signed a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to pass a public option for insurance coverage through the use of reconciliation.

Thank You!

Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)

Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Col.)

Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

To Senator Reid:

We respectfully ask that you bring for a vote before the full Senate a public health insurance option under budget reconciliation rules.

There are four fundamental reasons why we support this approach – its potential for billions of dollars in cost savings; the growing need to increase competition and lower costs for the consumer; the history of using reconciliation for significant pieces of health care legislation; and the continued public support for a public option.

Although John Kerry is not listed in the article, further link opening shows he is a supporter!

Yes, let’s get a public option passed!  

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liveandletlive

by the Democratic Party if they all pulled together and passed a Public Option.  It would restore my faith.  I need a little faith restoration.  

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p>Please pass a strong Public Option!

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ryepower12

may as well go all out and really do something good and popular, both of which the public option is.  

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john-from-lowell

From Roger Lau’s Facebook status:

Sen Kerry co-signs letter to urge passage of public option thru reconciliation.

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p>PS. I feel weird quoting FB as a source.

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john-from-lowell

And 119 Reps, including my own Rep. Niki Tsongas. :v)

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p>Senate whip count here.

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stomv

House whip count here.

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rhondabourne

I called Senatyor Kerry’s Office late Tuesday afternoon.  Hios aide was less than friendly.  he told me that Senator Kerry had not yet read the letter, but that he strongly supported the public option.  Felt the aide was jsut reading something.  he worked really hard to end the phone call, but I am just not that easy to get rid of.

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p>Rhonda

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1812

Rhonda, I saw your post and wanted to assure you that liveandletlive is correct – Senator Kerry has signed onto the letter. Here is a link that shows the list of senators who have signed this letter.

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p>http://whipcongress.com/?sourc…

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p>You and others did such a great job calling our office about the letter! As soon as we received the letter and talked to Senator Bennet’s office, Senator Kerry signed on immediately.

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p>I apologize for any confusion and please never hesitate to call the office again.

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p>-roger

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p>Roger Lau
Deputy State Director
Office of US Senator John Kerry

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janalfi

Why does the mainstream media keep claiming that the public option is “unpopular”?  We in Massachusetts know what happens when there is no public option and it ain’t pretty.

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rogerlau

Janalfi, thanks for the reminder.  I posted the news on Senator Kerry’s wall and replied to each person who posted about the Bennet letter. 🙂

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lasthorseman

Does public option include the state attaching medical expenses to your estate.

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daves

Only your estate will be attached.

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lynne

So good a response, I wish I could give you a ten!

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lasthorseman

you want my bridge abutment?

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johnd

Let them make as stand and tell the American people…

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“We don’t care how you feel about this bill, we’re going to push for it anyway!”

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p>From Rasmussen

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Rasmussen Reports has been tracking support and expectations for the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats regularly since last June and weekly for the past six months. Yesterday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said House Democrats do not have the votes to pass the legislation in its current form. As a result, this is the final tracking update for that legislation.

If the Democrats in Congress develop another approach, Rasmussen Reports will resume tracking as appropriate. However, polling released earlier today shows that 61% of voters nationwide want Congress to drop the health care plan and focus on the economy and jobs.

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President Obama this week called for a televised bipartisan summit to get his health care reform plan back on track, but 61% of U.S. voters say Congress should scrap that plan and start all over again.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds just 28% who think it is better to build on the health care plan that has been working its way through the House and Senate.

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p>AND

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Just 37% of U.S. voters now believe it is even somewhat likely that Congress will agree this year on a smaller, bipartisan health care plan, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. That figure includes only nine percent (9%) who say it is very likely.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of voters think congressional passage of a smaller health care plan with bipartisan support is unlikely. That figures includes 14% who think it’s not at all likely.

Fifty-six percent (56%) say it’s likely that President Obama and Congress will focus primarily on the economy and job creation over the next few months. Nearly one-out-of-four voters (24%) say that’s very likely to be the case.
Only 36% believe it’s not very or not at all likely that the economy and jobs will be the chief short-term focus of the president and Congress.

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p>Go ahead and vote against the American people! I dare you!

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christopher

…if they just do it and get it out of the way.  Plus, public option was still polling well last I checked.  That being said, I’m all for the Congress showing leadership rather than just doing what the people want, although I personally don’t hold out much hope that Reid will go for anything that is the slightest bit confrontational.

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liveandletlive

As long as they can do it relatively quickly, and without hundreds of pages of special interest amendments, and hand outs for corporations.  If they could just possibly make it a piece of leglislation that works for the people of the country and not the special interests, it will be
a wonderful thing. On the news shows tonight it wasn’t even mentioned, but what I did hear again is that the insurance industry is still hoping for health care reform that includes stiff penalties for not buying into their plans.  That is something we have to watch out for, and perhaps passing a public option first will protect us from being forced to pay the inflated private sector rates, should a mandate come to pass.
I think passing the public option is the best first step in health care reform.

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liveandletlive

improving the quality of the lives of Americans is not voting against the American people.  

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bill-from-dartmouth

I went to the Senate website and couldn’t find an email address but you can call Senator Brown’s office at (202) 224-4543. Come on, everyone, flood his office with calls. This is our mission from Ted Kennedy. He never gave up and we can’t either.

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bill-from-dartmouth

I got a recording and an opportunity to leave a message. The recording gave out a fax number.
The fax number is 202-228-2646.
If you have access to a fax, send one to Senator Brown’s office. I identified myself and said that I supported the effort to pass the public option via the reconciliation process. I asked that Senator Brown join the rest of our Congressional delegation in that support.  

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johnd

Don’t hold your breath!

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john-from-lowell

Brown blew all pretense of being anything but a lockstep obstructionist.

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stomv

if nothing else, it plants the idea in his head that he’ll need to move leftward on some things… maybe we lose this battle with him but get a vote or three later.

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johnd

People (like John above) need to stop micromanaging and realize you cannot extrapolate a lot of information based on 1 vote. Call me in  a year!

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stomv

There’s been a lot of new Republicans elected to House and Senate over the past 3-5 years.  Most of them were elected in red districts replacing retiring Republicans, but they’re new none-the-less.

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p>They’re all individuals.  They all could vote their conscious.  They’ve all voted with the GOP leadership, over and over again.  Scott Brown isn’t being judged on 1 vote.  He’s being judged on 1 vote and the behavior of his freshman Republican colleagues over the past few years and the fact that he is a Republican.

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p>Fair or foul, that’s what is happening.  “Tell me who you go with, and I’ll tell you what you’re like,” my mother always says.  Methinks thou doth protest too much — until Mr. Brown bucks his party on a vote of importance, why shouldn’t it be assumed that he’ll vote with leadership, just like all the other Republican freshmen in the past half-decade or longer.

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liveandletlive

flood his office with phone calls and emails.  

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aflamang

To the authors who have tough races this year. We need more Dems like Bennet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

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chilipepr

Two words “Midterm Elections”

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p>Anything that is passed now, no matter how good, will not have any effect before November.  I just do not see the Senate using reconciliation to get the public option passed.

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p>No matter how good the PO would be, there would not be any results seen by November and every possible “Bogeyman” scenario will be played up before the election.  I just think anyone up for re-election would not go for it.

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liveandletlive

Dianne Feinstein Signs On To Public Option PushDianne Feinstein Signs On To Public Option Push

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The California Democrat has been a supporter of the proposal from the start, though not a particularly vocal one. The recent news that the largest insurer in her home state, Anthem Blue Cross, was raising premiums on its customers by as much as 39 percent played a role in her decision.
“I can think of no better example of why we need health insurance reform,” she said of the rate-hike news, “and this kind of behavior is a stark reminder of why any reform plan should establish a rate authority to keep insurance rates affordable.”

The list of Senators currently signing the letter includes Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Michael Bennet (D-Col.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Pat Leahy (D-VT), John Kerry (D-Mass.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

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liveandletlive

Sam Stein – HuffPO

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Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Friday afternoon that he would work with other Democrats and the White House to pass a public option through reconciliation if that’s the legislative path the party chooses.

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If a decision is made to use reconciliation to advance health care, Senator Reid will work with the White House, the House, and members of his caucus in an effort to craft a public option that can overcome procedural obstacles and secure enough votes.”

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p>While normally I would jump for joy, I am suddenly getting a sinking feeling that we could go through the whole debacle of last years attempt to pass health care reform.
The words  “craft a public option that can overcome procedural obstacles and secure enough votes” gives me that sick to my stomach feeling that I’ve had for the last half of 2009.  Can Harry Reid and our Democrats in congress do this without paying for votes?  Can those asking for payment for their vote stop it long enough to pass a good, clean public option that will benefit the country and it’s people?  Can the corporate health industry lobbyists be kept at arms length(football field would be better)? If not, can our electeds ignore their cries for handouts?

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p>Please be strong Democrats.  You can do this; you can be heroes.

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