Today’s Health Care Checkup

* The Obama Administration will post its own health care plan online by Monday morning. It will reportedly include at least an outline of what could be passed via reconciliation in the Senate.

* I remain very skeptical that a final Democratic bill, even one passed via reconciliation, will include a public option. For some Democrats in Congress, the public option is too politically dangerous to even consider and, as Jonathan Cohn explains, its re-emergence could endanger Democratic hopes of passing health care reform at all. Last night, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told Rachel Maddow that President Obama would “certainly” support a public option if the Senate leadership manages to get it into a passable bill. But that’s still a very big if. (Here’s the Sebelius interview, scroll to about 8:30)

Anthem Blue Cross Makes The Case For Health Reform

So why is Anthem Blue Cross raising the premiums of its California customers by as much as 39%? Here’s an argument for an “individual mandate” requiring everyone to have insurance, as well as a case for making sure this coverage is affordable.: Anthem said its costs have been driven up in part because the weak [...]