Rangel: Health Overhaul Fails Without Public Option

An overhaul of the health care system won’t pass the U.S. House of Representatives unless it includes a government-financed insurance plan for consumers, the head of the House’s tax-writing committee said.

Representative Charles Rangel said a public plan is essential to compete with private insurers and hold down medical costs. A Senate proposal that doesn’t contain the public option is “totally unacceptable,” the New York Democrat, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in an interview today.

Read More...: