FCAN (the Florida Consumer Action Network) along with students from USF and UT will be holding a news conference this afternoon in front of Florida U.S. Senator Bill Nelson's downtown district office, calling on him to support health care reform. It's part of a nationwide call out today targeting members of Congress, and it comes the same day that a new poll shows that by a 57 %to 40% margin, the American public says they want a government run health care option in any legislation coming from Congress.
What does this mean? It should mean that centrist Democratic Senators (like Nelson who have been somewhat all over the map on supporting a public option) now might have a little more political cover to support the plan.
For those Americans who believe that health care reform without a public option is no real reform at all, it's critical for those indecisive Senators to embrace at least some form of a public option, whether it means a 'trigger' as the all powerful Olympia Snowe, Republican from Maine, has suggested, or allowing states to opt in or out (as Delaware's Tom Carper has suggested). But the magic number for Harry Reid has always been about getting to 60 votes – this poll can't hurt that cause.
(Interestingly enough, the survey asked if a public plan were run by the states and available ONLY to those who lack affordable private options, support jumps to 76 percent, with a majority of Republicans also in support).
I mention Senate Democrats, because it's clear that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many if not most House Democrats (excluding the Blue Dogs) are strongly in support of a public option as well. The House will most certainly pass a bill with a public option, but of course it must be reconciled with the Senate's version before a final bill can be passed and moved to President Obama's desk. This is clearly good news for those who have been clamoring for some form of a public option to be in the final legislation.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.