Landrieu Leaning Toward Support for Opt-Out Public Option

Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.), the moderate Democrat who’s been a loud critic of her party’s plan to create a public insurance option, is warming to the proposal, Roll Call reported today.

“The president was right to move us in the direction of finding a way to turn this cost curve down. We cannot accomplish any of our domestic goals and objectives without doing this.”

Landrieu isn’t ready to endorse the opt-out strategy being pushed by Democratic leaders, Roll Call indicates, but she is finally acknowledging that the public option is not the “government-run, national, taxpayer-subsidized plan” she’s said she can’t support under any circumstances.

“The public option,” Landrieu continued, “has been shaped 100 percent better than when it started out. So, it’s already shaped to be a public option that is supported by premiums.”

Landrieu said she and her fellow Democratic moderates are working on language to improve the proposal.

Meanwhile, much of the Senate health reform bill remains a mystery, as Democratic leaders have been tight-lipped about details as they await a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said this morning that the CBO score could arrive in the next few days.

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Track the latest developments in the health care debate at TWI’s Senate Public Option Scoreboard.