Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) lamented on a conference call Thursday evening that the debate Friday would be the first time that the committee, since it began negotiating health care reform months ago, would be debating the public option.
"We're going to have a full blown debate in the Finance Committee," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a backer of the public option. While it may be an "underdog," Schumer said, "don't count it out."
The bill in its present form, written by Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) with three Republicans and two Democrats on the committee, offers health care cooperatives as an alternative.
Baucus is not offering any law changes for cooperatives so they cannot operate across state lines. Most co-ops are small businesses that make between $5 and $10 million per year. They are too small to compete with the large health care corpriations and also only offer a limited range of services.
Jonathan Alter on Newsweek suggested a super-co-op might provide a compromise solution for health care, but there is no such animal in the Senate bill.
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/24/public-option-headed-for_n_299232.html
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