Ben Nelson All Alone In Quest To Block Health Care Reform

Sen. Ben Nelson announced at the beginning of this month that he opposed the creation of a public health care plan that people would have the option to buy into. He'd be gathering together a coalition of like-minded senators to oppose the plan, the conservative Democrat from Nebraska promised.

More than two weeks later, it's still a coalition of one.

Since Nelson's announcement, eight moderate Democrats and one Republican have told the Huffington Post that they are open to a public health care option. Two others, Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Jim Webb (D-Va.), have signed on to the idea.

Last week, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) said they were open to a public plan but undecided. Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) said much the same in a letter to the advocacy group Health Care for America Now,

Add more names to the list of those open to a public option: Jon Tester (Mont.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Kay Hagan (N.C.) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.).

Because Democratic leaders have said they are willing to pass health care reform with a simple majority -- rather than the 60 votes needed for most Senate business -- fewer centrist senators are needed.

Those centrists are not entirely convinced, but they're not closed off to the idea.

"The devil's in the detail on all this stuff. My key is accessibility and affordability. Those are the two things, but I think everything should be on the table," said Tester.

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"I've been on Sen. Wyden's bill because I believe in a bipartisan discussion about how we can make reforms," said Cantwell, referring to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), whose bipartisan bill does not include a public option.

Cantwell hopes for a bipartisan deal, but is open to the kind of public option compromise Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has proposed. "I don't want to sign off on his proposal, but in general I'm not opposed to the concept of having a plan like that," she said.

"It's something that I'm still looking into right now," said Hagan. "I want to be sure we have affordability and accessibility, but I also want to be sure that competition's in play and that our insurers can continue to do business... I need to go back and actually research it."

"We're looking at that option to see if it's going to be competitive and, you know, if it's going to be productive. I'm still open minded," said Lincoln.

A Nelson spokesman said that Nelson is still talking to like-minded colleagues in hopes of building a coalition opposed to the public plan.

The following 21 Democratic senators have signed onto a letter to finance committee chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and health committee chair Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). Kennedy supports a public option; Baucus is open to one.

Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
John D. (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV)
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Jim Webb (D-VA)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Ted Kaufman (D-DE)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
Claire McCaskill (D-MO)

Note to flaks: If your boss supports a public option and isn't on this list, let me know at [e-mail].

Comments

[MizLiz]

Looks like ol' Ben is in hock to Big Pharma.

[Icantbelieveher]

He works for Mutual of Omaha -- they are based in Nebraska! I'm sure he'll have a job there once he loses his primary!

[mjtaylor22]

do you see how this public debate is slowly but surely shining a bright light on all the rats in our legislative kitchen.
these guys n gals used to operate with anonimity, now their faces are plastered everywhere right with
thier silly arguements.
we can see their lacking of common sense, and we can see their corruption right on their faces.

[ladyvader]

Health care should not be for profit.

[jham710]

You are absolutely correct!

http://www.thehamandlegsshow.com

[TovSquirrel]

exactomundo!

[M1]

Agreed!

[bygollymissmolly]

And it should be considered a right and not a privilege.

[GrainOSand]

What about med school?

http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2009/01000/A_For_Profit_Medical_School.3.aspx

[OneEarthling]

I don't ef.fen get it.

"" We can't have a public option because the insurance industry may not be able to make money""

Have we become such a stupid nation to not see the complete idiocy of this thinking? The idea that some industry should be able to exist simply to chew money while rationing our healthcare delivery in the interest of it's own shareholders' PROFIT is farce.

[DocTwain]

Yes, it's completely obscene. It's sick. It's immoral. It's a disgrace! These greedy shareholders suck human LIVES to swell their profits!

The private health insurance cartel adds ZERO VALUE to health care.

Think about it. The only necessary function it fills is to write checks that a government program could write at a tiny fraction of the cost.

The cartel's very existence is the reason why 50 million Americans are uninsured.
If we replaced for-profit private gougers with a single-payer public program, we'd save $350 billion a year--$3.5 trillion over ten years--enough to insure all 50 million uninsured, and make coverage for our seniors comprehensive to boot!

But instead we let them take our money for their disingenuous advertising, excessive corporate executive salaries, and obscene, bloated PROFIT.

The truth is that the private health insurance cartel is a murderous syndicate that kills 18,000 Americans every year.

To hear the tortured arguments of the Chuck Schumers trying to justify the existence of this inhuman greed makes me want to vomit.

End the infamy!

Single payer NOW!

How do Democrats and Obama dare to stooge for these vampires?!

Throw Ben Nelson out!

[mike42nola]

How much money did the insurance companies donate to President Obama?

[TruthmongerII]

Every other nation on earth has a single-payer system!!!

I know, we are "so free" here in Empire that we deserve something better, ha ha. At quadruple the price, and such a deal ("Thank you master, can I have another?")

Who lives in those upscale communities the rest of us only see sometimes on TV? Could it be, all the oil thieves and insurance thieves and pharmaceutical dealers? Why, yes!

What a coincidence.

[blairtone]

Not true - all health care systems that work reasonably well have a two or multi tier system - it will eventually happen in Canada too. I see truthmo.. has class struggle on her/his mind rather than health care

[DocTwain]

blairtone, your posts are completely disingenuous. Who butters your bread, AHIP?

[moUSAnMe]

single payer, single payer...........please

[incognito-ergo-sum]

We want health care, not health insurance.

[research]

I just gave MoveOn more money to target you DINO's in the next election.

Say Bye bye.

Single payer is a distraction!

Gov Medicare option

will do the same thing gradually

while the gov system works out the kinks.

[lockewasright]

Agreed.

[KarenT]

Ben Nelson from Nebraska....Mutual of Omaha is based in Nebraska. Need we say more?

[voltage356]

You said too much.

[Montgriz]

That explains Nelson...but what about Baucus...he is owned by the banks, the insurance and health industries, and big Pharma....and they basically ignore Montana.....our system is broken, perhaps for good....

[lockewasright]

Primary challenges and an end to corporate personhood are our only real chance. If it is going to work, it is going to be a looong fight (multiple decades). I'm in for the long haul. Are you?

[lockewasright]

Nelson doesn't ever support the democratic agenda anyway. He just happens to have an in state excuse on this issue.

[antifluff]

The gov't is already involved in health care:
VA, ask a vet about using that
TRICARE, medical coverage for military and retired military (most doctors won't deal with it)
Medicare, will be broke in as little as seven years

If these are the types of coverages you want, just join the military or get old, then you too, can share in the joys of waste, non-coverage and lack of funds (congress must approve).
If the countries that have 'universal' health care, why aren't immigrants flocking into those countries for that care? Why do many people that live in 'universal' health care countries going to other countries for medical treatment?

[blairtone]

You got it, anti.. - these twits just don't know how bad a single payer(govt) is - wait for two years for a heart bypass? - a man in BC died waiting for a bypass op for more than 2 years - I guess they were hoping he'd drop before they had to spend the money

[Icantbelieveher]

I know someone who died because his insurance carrier denied his claim for his pacemaker! Which way is worse to die?

[tommo]

We already have all the waste, non-coverage and lack of funds we can handle, thank you. That's why we need the system fixed, moran.

HMOs and insurance companies add zero value to health care. They are parasites that need to be killed off. All they do is suck money for their CEOs, build marble and glass monuments to themselves, and deny people coverage.

You and they are the ones who are sick. In the melon.

[Icantbelieveher]

My mother has medicare and since she's been on it, she's had a stroke, broken her arm and had COPD. She has been taken care of by very good doctors and at really good hospitals.

My sister's husband is retired military and she just had surgery for cancer, and is doing great -- she said the doctors were great!

Next talking point, rush?

[NoSandwiches]

There are just so many issues that can now be addressed because they are on the minds of so many more people:
credit cards
health care
unemployment benefits

that is why the Republicans have lost their way. Their issues are nothing compared to the every day realities and shared struggles we all are experiencing due to their mismanagment.

Even gay rights in the military now has a very real and compelling face in Lt. Dan Choi

The president can only do things when the people, through their voices to congress, compel him to.

[InfosolutionWiz]

WELL SAID! Excellent Points!

[lockewasright]

End corporate personhood and we'll see congress start working for the people again. It's really that simple.

[kamenwati]

I agree wholeheartedly.

[TovSquirrel]

Abso-effin-lutely spot on!

[CaptainObvious]

Not quite - the CEO will just become the "corporate person". They'll pay for all the lobbying personally - and just reimburse themselves later.

[zelduh]

This, I think, is the crux of the problem. People die: corporations do not. Corporations have lobbyists: people do not. Corporations can expunge all their debts in a bankruptcy case: people cannot. It is extremely difficult for individual people to sue corporations because corporations have large war chests to finance their legal opposition (and people do not.) Our representatives in Congress listen more to the demands of corporations than they do the people who voted them into power.

We have severely unequal bargaining power as against corporations. Thus, "personhood" of corporations trumps living, breathing human beings.

I think an EQUAL PROTECTION argument can, and should be made.

[edwcorey]

"So, what will the Democrat leadership do?

"They will keep single payer off the table.

"Because they fear the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry - and want their campaign money - more than they fear the American people."

http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/04/nader-email-re-healthcare/

[numbnuts]

I'm stuck with Voinovich . He is actually liberal for a re-thug.
Sherrod Brown is a breath of fresh air!

[littleblackcat]

Ben Nelson seems to be a rethug in Dem clothing. He and his enjoy the best health care in the world on the taxpayers' back and his insurance company lobbyist friends probably provide him with lots of goodies.
Please, some bright young up-and-coming young Democratic candidate run against this old fool so we can get rid of him!

[lockewasright]

I always refer to him as: alleged democrat Ben Nelson.