Sebelius: Public Health Care Option "Not The Essential Element"

This is what happens when you begin your negotiations with your "line in the sand" position. Democratic activists, HCAN, MoveOn and others who abandoned Single-Payer (Medicare for All), as being unfeasible will be responsible for our not getting even a strong public option if that is how it plays out.

Apparently ready to abandon the idea, President Barack Obama's health secretary said Sunday a government alternative to private health insurance is "not the essential element" of the administration's health care overhaul.

The White House indicated it could jettison the contentious public option and settle on insurance cooperatives as an acceptable alternative, a move embraced by some Republicans lawmakers who have strongly opposed the administration's approach so far.

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If you want to save the Public Option, you need to switch gears right away and start lobbying for Single Payer. HR-676 will be allowed a vote on the floor of the House. It will not pass, but getting a strong vote helps move the debate so that reform might actually help citizens.