Pelosi makes case for public health care option

updated 8:51 p.m. ET Oct. 15, 2009

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the case is growing stronger for allowing the government to sell health insurance in competition with private companies, contending recent attacks from the industry should dispel any doubts.

"The need for a public option is very clear," the California Democrat told reporters at her weekly news conference, making the argument as lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol work to finalize sweeping legislation extending coverage to millions of the uninsured.

Whether the Senate bill will include a public plan in any form is a major question mark, but "our House bill will have a public option," the California Democrat declared.

"Anyone who had any doubts about the need for such an option need only look at the behavior of the health insurance industry this week," Pelosi said. "The idea that we would have health insurance reform without a public option becomes less likely."

She was referring to an industry-funded study earlier that said insurance premiums would rise under health overhaul legislation advanced by the Senate Finance Committee earlier this week. Pelosi also referenced an insurance industry ad campaign targeted at seniors.

The speaker has been on the attack against health insurers for months, but the latest developments clearly strengthened her resolve to make them pay. She also said the House was now considering adding to its health care bill a $6.7 billion-a-year fee on insurance companies that is part of the Senate Finance package.

"There are some things we'd like to see happen to the insurance companies that they might not like," Pelosi said.

Baucus: All Democrats will vote for bill
Meanwhile, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee predicted that every Democrat in the Senate — and perhaps more than one Republican — would vote for the overhaul.

Video   Will Collins follow Snowe’s lead? Oct. 14: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, joins Hardball’s Chris Matthews to discuss whether she will break ranks with her party on the health bill. Hardball

That assertion was a notable show of confidence coming in the midst of negotiations with Majority Leader Harry Reid and White House officials to finalize legislation that can satisfy liberal Democrats without alienating moderates — and get the 60 votes needed to advance in the 100-seat Senate.

Baucus told reporters that lawmakers have a moral obligation to repair the health care system to rein in costs and extend coverage to millions of the uninsured.

"And that is why we are going to pass health care reform legislation this year, and it is why every Democrat will vote for it, and it is why there will be at least one Republican and maybe a couple more who also will vote for it," Baucus said.

"Every Democrat will vote for national health care reform," Baucus emphasized.

Democrats control 60 Senate votes, but that includes two independents, and leaders have been uncertain of support from a number of moderates who've expressed concerns about the price tag of health care legislation and the government's role in a remade system.

Baucus' prediction followed approval by his committee earlier this week of a 10-year, $829 billion bill that makes numerous changes to the health care system along the lines sought by President Barack Obama, but taking a more centrist approach than the other four health care bills approved by House and Senate committees.

Baucus and Reid met Thursday with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and other officials wrestling to merge the Finance bill with a more liberal version passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

MORE FROM HEALTH CARE

Health care Section Front

Single-payer health care plan dies in Senate   Dean urges defeat of emerging health care bill   Drugmakers will pay more for health bill   GOP demands full reading of amendment   Public sours on health care overhaul, poll finds   1 in 5 in U.S. lost health insurance since 2008   Senate rejects low-cost drug imports   Obama: Health reform at ‘precipice’ of passage Senate Dems may scrap Medicare expansion Medicare buy-in plan runs into resistance Health care Section Front   Add Health care headlines to your news reader: