public option

Now that the veil has been lifted, here are a few of the important numbers surrounding the Senate’s health reform bill, courtesy of the Congressional Budget Office.

$848 billion: Ten-year cost of the proposal, all of it offset by revenue increases and budget cuts elsewhere.
$130 billion: Amount the bill would reduce budget deficits over 10 years.
[...]

In addition to senators’ positions on the public option, the Scoreboard now lists uninsured numbers in senators’ home states and state-by-state public option polling data.

We’ve added some new information to TWI’s ever-evolving Senate Public Option Scoreboard. In addition to every senator’s stance on the public option, the Scoreboard now displays the percentage of people in each senator’s home state who lack health insurance, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. We’ve also included state-by-state polling data on [...]

On the Fence
Likely Supporters
Likely Opponents

9
51
40

Likely Supporters

Senator

Stance

Home State Data*

Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Signed a public letter saying that “absent a competitive and continuous public insurance option – health reform legislation will not produce nationwide access and ongoing cost containment.” (10/30/2009)
6.7% uninsured

Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
Finance Committee chairman
“[T]he Senate health reform legislation is a balanced, fiscally-responsible package that will deliver [...]

On the Fence
Likely Supporters
Likely Opponents

9
51
40

Likely Opponents

Senator

Stance

Home State Data*

Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
“Senator Reid’s bill is appropriate for the season. It’s the same turkey you didn’t like in August, and it’s not going to taste any better on Thanksgiving. It’s still more premiums. It’s still higher taxes. It’s still Medicare cuts. It’s still a 2,000-page bill.” [...]

On the Fence
Likely Supporters
Likely Opponents

9
51
40

On the Fence

Senator

Stance

Home State Data*

Evan Bayh (D-Ind.)
Rachel Maddow Show: “Sen. Bayh told us it is extraordinarily unlikely that he would filibuster health reform. He said there is nothing in the bill he is aware of now that would cause him to vote to filibuster and he said that he currently ‘can’t [...]

As the health care debate twists and turns through the Senate, the prospects for a public option remain murky. This scoreboard, updated daily, can serve as your one-stop shop for senators’ stances on a public plan — in their own words. See our methodology below.

On the Fence
Likely Supporters
Likely Opponents

9
51
40

Click on the numbers in the scoreboard [...]

Not the blue states.
There are roughly 46 million people living in America without health insurance coverage, representing about 15 percent of the nation’s population, according to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. But they aren’t distributed evenly around the country.

As Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) marks his line of opposition to a public insurance plan in the Democrats’ health reform bill, it’s worth noting that no industry has given more to Nelson’s congressional career than the insurers. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions, insurance companies have donated nearly $1.3 million to Nelson [...]

Sen. Ben Nelson, the conservative-leaning Nebraska Democrat, vowed to filibuster health reform legislation if it includes a public health insurance plan, ABC News reported yesterday.

“Well, first of all, it has more than a robust public option, it’s got a totally government-run plan, the costs are extraordinary associated with it, it increases taxes in a way [...]