Written By: Garry CooperDemocratic Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND), Blanche Lincoln (D-AK) and Max Baucus (D-MT), who voted down the public option for health care yesterday, insisted that they are not necessarily opposed to a public option. Sen. Baucus who, over the last six years, leads every member of Congress in donations from health care and insurance companies, insisted that he voted against the public option only because he knew the entire Senate could never pass a bill with a public option in it.
“I don’t have any automatic opposition to the public option,” said Baucus, “I’m just being pragmatic. If I could figure out which backers of a public option could come up with comparable money for me, I’d certainly be open to changing my position.”
Senator Lincoln, who is currently trailing in polls in her home state, where support for the public option is running high, pointed out that she did not vote against the public option. “I didn’t vote at all,” she said, “So no one can accuse me of taking a principled stand for or against anything.”
The three senators insisted that as far as they are concerned, some kind of public option is still on the table. “We are firmly committed to insuring that every American has a choice in health care,” said Conrad, “Currently, those without health care can choose between bankruptcy and dying, but we’re not going to rest on our laurels! We definitely want to add a public option to the mix. I have proposed setting up hospital tents in open fields where anyone in need can come for emergency health care, as long as they can prove citizenship and have a note from their doctor. Unlike other public options, this will not add a significant cost to our budget, especially if we keep the hospital cots close enough together so that patients can rely on each other’s body heat in winter in order to save on heating costs.”
Meanwhile Senator Charles (Snaken) Grassley (R-IA), who had previously pretended to join in bipartisan negotiations on health care, vigorously argued with fellow Senate Finance Committee member Charles Schumer (D-NY), whose public option amendment Grassley helped vote down. Asked whether he opposes Medicare, Sen. Grassley said he did not because Medicare was successful and already “part of our social fabric.” Asked why he then did not vote in favor of a public option, Grassley explained that Medicare’s success proved that a public option would eventually kill off insurance companies and that would be wrong. Senator Schumer attempted to ask a follow-up question but he could not pick his jaw up off the table in time.
