'Zombie' Public Option Will Not Die

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) as chair of the progressive caucus in the House of Representatives introduced a "robust public option" to compete against private insurance on Thursday. That is good news to 6 of 10 Americans who support the idea of a government run health insurance as an option in the insurance exchanges created by the recent legislation restructuring the health insurance market. The bill has 121 co-sponsors. My readers know the public option was axed in the Senate to obtain the final few votes of conservatives necessary to pass  the overall bill in that filibuster-obstructed chamber. The Congressional Budget office projects that this version of the public option would reduce the deficit by $68 billion between 2014 and 2020. That is a number in which all the deficit hawks in Washington should be interested. However, the bill faces the nearly insurmountable trio of opposition from the insurance lobby, doctors and hospitals. All of whom fear the lowering of healthcare prices as the result of competition from a non-profit source. Sometimes the zombies win.