A Health Care Ruling Q&A

In the light of day, a few things about yesterday’s health care court decision are coming into focus. The White House clearly expected federal Judge Henry Hudson to rule the individual mandate unconstitutional. The judge telegraphed his intentions in earlier comments and the Administration was ready with talking points about how Hudson’s ruling was only one of three in the federal courts so far. (Two other judges decided the individual mandate is constitutional.) Secondly, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is an ambitious fellow. Then again, we already knew that too. He has already started fundraising off yesterday’s court decision.

But some other pieces of this story aren’t well understood yet. Here’s a look at some of the questions swirling around the Beltway and blogosphere today.

In Defense of the Fox News Ban on “Public Option”

Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon is under fire today for instructing his newsroom – during the height of the health care debate – not to use the term “public option.” Here’s the supposed smoking gun: an e-mail obtained by Media Matters: From: Sammon, Bill Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 8:23 AM To: 054 [...]

For the Record

The Congressional Budget Office said in a recent letter that repealing the parts of the Affordable Care Act, including changes to Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, would increase the deficit by $455 billion. The CBO released the figure this week in a letter responding to a request from Republican Sen. Mike Crapo. [...]

Is the Resolution Fund the Public Option of Financial Reform?

A flashpoint in a partisan legislative battle. Check. Check. A favorite GOP talking point used to reduce a massive piece of legislation into two, scary-sounding words. (“permanent bailout” and “government takeover”) Check. Check. Relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of reform. Check. Check. The public option was far from a “government takeover.” Only 3 or [...]

Public Option

Ryan Grim sees an opening. Don’t count on it. At least, not now and not nationally: UPDATE: David Waldman sees one too.

The Public Option Could Be Back. No, Really…

Nope, you won’t see a public option in the legislation that is expected to come to a vote in the House later this week. But if it passes, we may well see a public option established in some–maybe many–states. As Kate and I have written before, if this bill becomes law, states will be on [...]

Bye Bye Public Option Dreamers

At a press conference today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the public option dead. Here’s what she said: I’m quite sad that a public option isn’t in there. But it isn’t a case of it’s not in there because the Senate is whipping against it. It’s not in there because they don’t have the votes [...]

Why Heather Graham is Dangerous for Health Reform

Public option supporters inside and outside the Senate are still pushing Harry Reid to bring back the idea and pass it via reconciliation, Jay Rockefeller’s hesitance notwithstanding. My guess is Rockefeller’s opposition to this plan is based on concern that the public option could completely blowup the renewed push for Democratic health care reform. The [...]

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 [...]

Re: Could the Public Option Get a Third Lease on Life?

The plot thickens. Greg Sargent catches that Chuck Schumer just signed on to the push for Senate Democrats to pass a public option via reconciliation. (See my earlier very skeptical post on this topic in which I agreed with Sargent that Schumer’s support for the idea is meaningful.) And the AP is reporting that the [...]