Transcripts

Public Option Remains a Sore Spot in Health Care Reform

SUSIE GHARIB: Health care reform efforts continue to work their way through the Senate. Top Democrats Harry Reid, Chris Dodd and Max Baucus worked today to meld three health bills into one. But they're stuck on a key issue -- whether their final bill will include a public option. As Stephanie Dhue reports, just what that option will be is still being debated.

STEPHANIE DHUE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Labor unions have been strong advocates of health care reform. Gerald McEntee, who heads the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says his union won't support a bill that taxes high cost plans and doesn't include a public option.

GERALD MCENTEE, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, AFSCME: We've been fighting like hell for it. We don't want to fight again for it. We know how difficult it is to get it and so we would oppose it and just not take it because it's called health care reform.

DHUE: But a so-called public option comes in many flavors. Some see it as a government run plan, like Medicare, that would operate in all 50 states. For others it could be a non-profit co-op negotiating prices just like private insurers. Other ideas being pushed under the public option umbrella would let states opt out or trigger the option under certain conditions. Policy analyst Rick Weissenstein calls it a semantic nightmare.

RICK WEISSENSTEIN, HEALTH CARE ANALYST, CONCEPT CAPITAL: I think the public option is 100 percent in the eye of the beholder and I think it means a lot of different things and I think that's been a problem with this debate from the start because I don't think not everyone is talking about the same public option.

DHUE: Details will matter and those details are far from decided. Families USA, a consumer health care advocacy group, wants a public option, but its President Ron Pollack doesn't want the issue to hold up health care reform.

RON POLLACK, EXECUTIVE DIR, FAMILIES USA: Many groups like ourselves strongly support a public plan option, but there are a lot of other things in this legislation that are very important that help to drive cost down and then expand coverage for tens of millions of people and I don't think we want to jeopardize that because we did not get exactly what we wanted.

DHUE: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus says a public option is still on the table. But whether it will be in the final bill is still an open question. He says his key goal is to get 60 votes in the Senate and make health care reform a reality. Stephanie Dhue, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.