Ben Nelson Plans To Oppose Public Health Plan

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said Friday that he will oppose legislation that would give people the option of a public health insurance plan. The move puts him on the opposite side of two-thirds of Americans.

A poll released this week by Consumer Reports National Research Center showed that 66 percent of Americans back the creation of a public health plan that would compete with private plans. Nelson, in comments made to CQ, joins the 16 percent of poll respondents who said they oppose the plan.

Nelson's problem, he told CQ, is that the public plan would be too attractive and would hurt the private insurance plans. "At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game," Nelson said. Including a public option in a health plan, he said, was a "deal breaker."

A Nelson spokesman didn't return a call for comment.

As he so often does, Nelson said, according to CQ, that he planned to form a "coalition of like-minded centrists opposed to the creation of a public plan, as a counterweight to Democrats pushing for it."

That coalition will not include 16 Democratic senators who signed a letter calling for a public plan earlier this week, including Senate leaders Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Charles Schumer (N.Y.).

If Democrats use the reconciliation process to pass health care reform, however, Nelson's vote would not be needed, as only a simple majority could pass the legislation.

Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America

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Comments

[Star2000dancer]

07:05 PM on 05/04/2009

I want America to be just like Sweden when we grow up. Jon Stewart really made it look sweet.

[Garrett123]

07:02 PM on 05/04/2009

We need to finish cleaning house in the mid-terms. All the blue dogs need to go.

[Star2000dancer]

07:00 PM on 05/04/2009

Should'nt "We The People" be able to read all legislation before it gets passed?

[Star2000dancer]

06:56 PM on 05/04/2009

Is he a blue dog?

[claudiam]

06:45 PM on 05/04/2009

Isn't he one of the Senator's that voted against the bankruptcy/mortgage bill - someone that is owned by the bank? I am totally tired of these legislatures that doesn't work or vote on behalf of the American working people! claudiatucsonaz

[diogeron]

06:38 PM on 05/04/2009

He's thrown in with the hard core Right Wingers on opposing Dawn Johnsen's nomination and now he's going to attempt to thwart health care reform. Can anybody beat him in the Democratic primary? Increasingly, Nelson is acting like a Republican, not a moderate Democrat.

[beefy daddy]

06:18 PM on 05/04/2009

RECONCILIATION

Nelson is a corporate tool

[ImmanuelKant1]

06:15 PM on 05/04/2009

You have to love that Ben Nelson logic. The government's plan is better, therefore people shouldn't have access to it.

[tililek]

06:50 PM on 05/04/2009

By Nelson's logic the insurance companies (who might not be needed) have a right to overcharge so they can help congress people get elected for helping them instead of the public.

[super]

07:56 PM on 05/04/2009

So much for "government inefficiency!"

[deneufeldt]

06:01 PM on 05/04/2009

Everyone in Nebraska needs to write or call Ben Nelson's office to vote for health care. Neb. lives in La La Land. They don't have the same unemployment or problems the rest of the country has because they are primarily a farming state. If it wasn't for Buffet no one would know where Nebraska is.

[littleblackcat]

05:40 PM on 05/04/2009

It SHOULD hurt private insurors! They have been so damned worried about making sure the shareholders get theirs FIRST that needed care is put on the back burner while the insurance companies wrangle over the amount they will pay for medical procedures that should not be subjected to a monetary scale of approval before being performed.
Shareholders be damned! They are a major cause of the financial mess with their greed. If everyone had kept their money in savings accounts and been happy with 3.5% interest instead of being lead up the pole with tales of 18% interest in the STOCK MARKET and getting involved with "investments" about which they knew little and certainly didn't recall from the depression's aftermath that the stockmarket can fail. Then your "investments" are worthless! Which about sums up today.

[donaldw6]

04:58 PM on 05/04/2009

Nebraska, we're stuck with your guy until 2012, so it's up to you to put the pressure on him. Do you want national health insurance or not?

[SaucyB]

04:35 PM on 05/04/2009

private insurance is the WORST blood sucking corporation there is! I want the SAME insurance as the Senator from Nebraska. Perhaps if he switched plans with one of us poor folk for a year he'd get the idea!

[RandVictims]

04:14 PM on 05/04/2009

Where is LBJ when you need him???

[RandVictims]

04:11 PM on 05/04/2009

Thank goodness for "Reconciliations" and "Executive Orders"...Hopefully, Obama will use them until the corporate henchmen are thatched from Congress.

[WinterParkMom]

04:10 PM on 05/04/2009

"Nelson's problem, he told CQ, is that the public plan would be too attractive and would hurt the private insurance plans. "At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game," Nelson said. Including a public option in a health plan, he said, was a "deal breaker."


Because *** forbid that any elected official actually vote in the best interests of their constituents and the people of the USA. When are nebraskans going to get rid of this guy. So creating competition to get these people to bring premium rates down is a bad thing? Getting affordable healthcare for people with catastrophic illnesses leading to foreclosures is a bad thing? This goes to show you whose pocket he's in, or rather who's in his pocket. Vote him and all the others like him out!!!