Daschle Urges Obama To Drop Federal Public Health Care Plan

*** UPDATED BELOW ***

The man once slated to head Barack Obama's health care system overhaul is now coming out against one of the chief components of that effort.

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said on Wednesday that the Obama White House would likely have to scrap a federal public option for health insurance coverage if it wanted to get the votes needed to pass systematic change.

"We've come too far and gained too much momentum for our efforts to fail over disagreement on one single issue," the Senator and one-time HHS Secretary nominee said, according to ABC News.

The remarks came after Dashcle, along with former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Howard Baker introduced his own proposal for health care reform. That plan actually included a version of a government-run option. The Daschle proposal calls for (among other things) public insurance pools to be administered by state government, not the feds.

In coming out against a federal public plan, Daschle adds kindling to an already roaring debate on health care reform. On Thursday morning, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean repeated the mantra that you cannot have effective legislation if it does not include a public option. At the White House on Wednesday, several state legislators who had met with current HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius argued the same point.

Certainly, the public seems to be weighed in Dean's favor. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted on Wednesday night showed that 76 percent of respondents wanted a choice between a public option for insurance coverage and private providers.

UPDATE: A spokesman for the former majority leader called the Huffington Post to insist that Daschle is "still committed to the public plan" and was not urging Obama to drop it from his proposal.

"He was saying that we shouldn't let any issue derail what would be health care reform," said Eileen McMenamin, Director of Communications at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "He definitely did not say there should be no public plan."

Daschle, said McMenamin, did believe that a public plan could be administered by the states. And his chief concern with Obama'a approach was not the policy basis but the politics of getting it through Congress.

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[REGONE]

THE STORY WAS ALL POSITIVE WHEN HE WAS SPONSORING NATIONAL HEALTH CARE now everything is all DOOM and GLOOM. Go screw yourself! Hey buddy! I hope you paid your taxes on the services provided to you while on Capitol Hill. Stay out of the news and go take a hike!

[moneyman1]

I wonder who's paying for Tommy D's health insurance ????

[Lin96]

I'm quite certain he doesn't care as long as it isn't him.

[Lin96]

I'm certain Tom Daschle doesn't care who pays for his healthcare as long as it's not him. I'm sure he wouldn't care who was paying his taxes as long as it wasn't him. Like Bob Dole, and a vast majority of those in Congress now who are coming out of the cracks from everywhere, GREED is the motivation in whatever they do. Senator Grassley actually stated on MSNBC that "Greed is good. It motivates people". With that kind of jaded mentality that has obviously infected the Congress leaving it in a terminal condition, the US has little hope for success in solving the problems that plague our country, let alone the problems that encompass the world.

[Ben6768]

Daschle you are a corrupt P.I.G like all the rest

[Shake-A-Spear]

Why do we continue to listen to Daschle? He was shown to be on the take before he could formally be considered to head up HHS. Why should his opinion count or even be heard? He is just another kept politician as in "kept woman."

[Whitley2009]

Except for being faultless, he has no faults....

[ignorantwillyharper]

I don't know why all the fuss now over Daschle being corrupt, he's been a crook for the last twenty-five years and nobody seem to care back then and now we're all coming to the conclusion maybe he's shady...I hope someone don't yell the sky is falling.

[LostinNH]

There is one party that stands in the way of real change in health care--the Democrats.

[SoccerNana]

The Democratic Party is not standing in the way of real health care reform.

The Republican Separatist Party is working to block real change, because they know the insurance and drug companies who have been lining their personal pockets will not be able to afford to anymore.

Competition is the only way to bring these astronomical health insurance prices down.

The Repubican Separatist senators and congressman do not care, the tax paying Americans pay for their health care and for their famnilies' as well.

[karma13612]

Here we go again.

If the public/government option is administered at the state level, instead of federal, it will be totally messed up.

If the states have control of the administration, then there will be huge differences between states as far as coverage, and resulting medical care.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

In case I didn't make myself clear.

NOOOOOOOOO­OOOOOOOOOO­OOOOOOOOOO­OOOOOOOOOO

I live in greedy corrupt New York state. I swear I will move to a different state if it falls into the hands of Chuckie Shumer (who doesn't want to compete with private insurance). BCBS has a choke hold in this area and we can't get decent priced health insurance.

This is a nightmare.

We need a federally run, funded, etc public option, or single payer.

Keep it out of State's hands!!!

[macedonia356bc]

Well Said!!!

[rockyersocksoff]

Whoever pays the bill, the cost of medicine is unaffordable and growing at three times the rate of everything else.

My mother has cancer. She gets chemotherapy. Each two-hour treatment (a dose of anti-nausea drugs followed by an orange liter bag of chemo drugs) plus the follow-up shot 2 days later costs just over $7000.

Each course of treatment is SIX of those doses.

That's about 45 GRAND for less than a gallon of "magic potion" (and of course the overhead-clinic, workers, doctor etc)

Now, she has insurance, and money, and our family is glad that she's doing pretty well considering that 2.5 years ago her life looked to be damn-near over.

But between the three surgeries and 5 courses of chemotherapy, this has cost upwards of a million dollars.

Just shoving costs like this unto the Federal Budget might feel good for a short time, but the budget deficits will be unimaginable, and if Uncle Sam is writing the checks with NO cost containment, the Medical Industrial Complex will suck us dry.

[darker]

Americans --working and middle class-- NEED a government HEALTH INSURANCE plan (including single-payer!) so that NOT JUST THE RICH can have decent health insurance in the USA.

What's happening now is unacceptable. The chaos Republicans ALWAYS create to derail
anything they dislike should NOT be allowed to SABOTAGE HEALTH INSURANCE for
everyone else who needs it.

If REPUBLICANS ARE RICH ENOUGH to have health insurance, they should NOT DENY
HEALTH INSURANCE to OTHERS !

[DavidMcK]

My new mantra " I want the same health care that punk , Daschle has for him and his family."

[Whitley2009]

Sorry, but you are not part of the New World Order or BigInsurance and BigPharmaceuticals.

[zeeshan809]

I do not agree with Daschle.


My blog:
http://next-world-war.blogspot.com

[toosinbeymen]

Well, well. Showing your true colors, aren't you. You're a sellout to the kleptocrates and businesses that want to take more profit out of Americans.

Shame on you, Tom Daschle. You're just a crook, like so many others.

[toxicbrainpoison]

Yeah he wants us to just give up and die in the emergency room.

[Ben6768]

Shame on you, Daschle : you are a corrupt P.I.G like everyone else

[MillinMn]

This is a man who represents clients for money. Nothing wrong with that. But the US public is not his client. See who he's working for, then decide if it's his best call for the nation as a whole.

[DrBillo1]

thank goodness this failure dropped out--now hes a lobbyist against a public health care plan!!!

[Vurz]

A national health plan would be in the best interests of everyone in the country. Unfortunately, some of us would rather not be our brothers keeper.