Public option not dead yet

The News of Its Death Is Greatly Exaggerated
Mike Lux

Kent Conrad has repeatedly said there are not enough votes in the Senate for a public option, and now says he won’t vote for one. HHS Secretary Sebelius says the public insurance option is not essential. These statements add to a steadily growing conventional wisdom that the public option is now dead.

Not so fast. This fight hasn’t even come close to being played out yet.

Conrad is accurate that there are not currently 60 votes in the Senate for a public option. But what conventional wisdom ignores is that there are 64 House members who are unequivocally on record as saying they will not vote for a health reform bill that has no public option, way more than enough to take that possibility off the table. So there are two possibilities right now:

* If both sides of this equation hold tight, no bill passes at all

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Originally posted: Public option not dead yet

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