Woolsey retreats from public option demand for health care
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, as a hearing last year in San Francisco.
PD FilePublished: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 6:28 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 6:28 p.m.
In an acknowledged turnabout, Rep. Lynn Woolsey said Tuesday she is prepared to vote for a health care bill that lacks a government-funded insurance plan, known as a public option.
“I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bath water,” Woolsey said, underscoring the need to get health care legislation through Congress. “We cannot stop health care from going forward.”
Woolsey, a Petaluma Democrat and co-leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, insisted last year that the health care overhaul must include a “robust public option.” As recently as Monday, she reiterated that a public insurance plan is crucial to reining in the “skyrocketing costs” of health care.
“We need to reform our health care system, and the public option must be included,” she said in a commentary Monday in Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill.
Asked if her willingness to vote for a bill without the public option amounted to a retreat, Woolsey said, “Well, it probably is.”
But, she added, her North Bay constituents want results. “Everyone I run into says, ‘Woolsey, we have to have health care reform,'” she said. “The worst thing we could do is have nothing at this point.”
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, agreed that health care action is essential. “Doing nothing is not an option,” said Thompson, a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs faction.
Thompson said it was “premature” to comment on how he would vote until the bill's final language emerges. But if the only choice were the Senate health care bill, which does not include a public option, Thompson said: “I'm for doing that.”
Woolsey also said that if Congress approves the language of the Senate bill, she would immediately introduce a separate public option measure.
“We can start working on it,” she said, noting that key provisions of the health care proposals don't take effect until 2014.
Congressional Democrats, working without their Republican colleagues, are attempting to craft a bill that reconciles differences between the House and Senate health care measures adopted last year.
The House bill, which Woolsey and Thompson supported, included a government-run insurance plan to compete with the private sector. Senate Democrats dropped the public option for lack of the 60-vote super majority needed to block a Republican filibuster.
A reconciled bill can pass both houses with a majority vote, but analysts say that House leaders will be hard-pressed to come up with the minimum of 216 votes needed in their chamber.
Differences of opinion over the provisions relating to abortion coverage may prove more of an obstacle than the public option, analysts said.
Thompson said he expects the reconciliation measure will be the Senate bill with a few modifications.
David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist, said Woolsey is attempting to keep the public option debate alive, an approach that “reflects the reality of the situation.”
“A public option happens down the road, not now, not under this environment of anger and vitriol that seems to have inundated politics in and around Washington, D.C.,” McCuan said.
Health care legislation is a “do or die proposition for the Obama administration,” McCuan said, and it is “also like software: it is version 1.0 of a longer process.”
Woolsey said she is more concerned with “moving forward” on health care than on meeting President Obama's needs.
“He ran on health care,” she said. “Let's hope he can deliver it.”
In taking a stand in favor of health legislation without a government component, Woolsey risks alienating the most liberal elements of the Democratic Party, including supporters on the North Coast.
Woolsey acknowledged Tuesday that she “compromised” on her support for single-payer insurance, but also said that Progressive Caucus members deserve credit for getting a public option in the House health care bill.
“It's all about money in politics,” Woolsey said, referring to the shortfalls in reforming the health care system.
Major business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, announced on Tuesday a multimillion-dollar television ad campaign blasting Obama's health plan as a “job killer.”
“What does that tell you?” Woolsey said.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.