Public Option Killed, For Now

Eventually the Baucus bill, when its finished will be matched with the more liberal Dodd- Kennedy Bill and the whole public option battle will play out again. Of course the end point will be the conference committee between the Rangel-Waxmen version and whatever final senate bill hits the floor. For the record even advocates of the Public Option never firmly came down on what the final payment schedule of it would be, whether it would be 10% more then Medicare payments or more in line with entitlement program. More to the point if the public option is dead, the real question is what will be larded onto the bill to appease the left into supporting the more "moderate" proposal.

WASHINGTON — After a half-day of animated debate, the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday rejected efforts by liberal Democrats to add a government-run health insurance plan to major health care legislation, dealing the first official setback to an idea that many Democrats, including President Obama, say they support.

All of the other versions of the health care legislation advancing in Congress — a bill approved by the Senate health committee and a trio of bills in the House — include some version of the government-run plan, or public option.

But the Finance Committee chairman, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, long ago removed it from his proposal because of stiff opposition from Republicans who call the public plan a step toward “socialized medicine.”

The committee on Tuesday afternoon voted, 15 to 8, to reject an amendment proposed by Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, to add a public option called the Community Choice Health Plan, an outcome that underscored the lack of support for a government plan among many Democrats.

Mr. Baucus voted no, as did Senators Thomas R. Carper of Delaware, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, , and Bill Nelson of Florida, joining all 10 Republicans in opposition.

After this bill is reported favorably on in the Finance committee, expect more internal Democrat fireworks and the details rip that party apart.