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House speaker Nancy Pelosi revealed the House version of a health care reform bill today that includes a public option, which she prefers to call a “consumer option.”
Whether one is for or against a public option in health care reform, one clear distinction must be made. A public option is not a single-payer system and therefore, would not be available to most Americans.
Lost amid the ideological battle is the fact that only about 10% of Americans would be eligible to participate in the public option, even in its most expansive versions. The public option would be available only to people not enrolled in employer-sponsored insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or VA health care.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, took to the House floor to voice his objections to the legislation unveiled Thursday. “Is this the best we can do?”
“When you ask people in a poll, ‘Are you in favor of a public option that would be available to everybody,’ they say, ‘Yes,’ ” Sen. Wyden said. “I don’t think they’re going to feel the same way about a public option available to only 10 percent of the population.”