Kerry Pushes For Public Option Trigger In Closed-Door Meeting

In a closed-door meeting of Senate Finance Committee Democratic members and their staff Wednesday evening, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) suggested that if the committee bill didn't have enough votes for a public option it include a ten-year delay between passage of health care reform and the implementation of a public option that Americans could buy into, according to two Democratic aides.

Under the plan floated by Kerry, a public health care option would only be triggered by private insurance companies failing to meet certain criteria after ten years. Known as the "trigger" in legislative lingo, the idea is vociferously opposed by health care advocates who consider it the death of reform.

Reform advocates say that the system is already broken and that there's no need to wait any longer, also warning that the insurance industry might be able to game the criteria and prevent the public plan trigger from ever being pulled.

One source familiar with Kerry's unexpected suggestion said that the idea seemed to have little impact on the meeting and that the senators quickly moved on.

Kerry has expressed his strong personal support for a public option without a trigger that would be available immediately.

But the Finance Committee is more conservative than the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and getting a public option through without a trigger will be a political challenge. Ranking Republican Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has shown little interest in compromise so far, leaving Maine's Olympia Snowe as the likeliest Republican to cross the committee aisle. Snowe has said she would support a public option but only with a trigger.

The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Finance bills will be combined once they both move through their respective committees.

A Kerry spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

UPDATE: Kerry spokeswoman Jodi Seth responds with a statement: "Let's be clear, if Sen. Kerry had his way, there'd be no debate: we'd have universal coverage tomorrow with a strong public plan at its core. Sen. Kerry strongly supports a robust public option and has been pushing for it since day one of this debate. When he ran for president, he campaigned on a public option and everywhere he went he reminded the country that Congress shouldn't deny them the public health care that Members of Congress give themselves. The past five years have only strengthened that conviction. Any suggestion that he prefers proposals that would delay or trigger the implementation of a public plan is outright false, end of story. But it's no secret that the Finance Committee is looking at a whole range of progressive options with an eye on what can make its way to the president's desk to become law, and obviously if it's the only way to get universal health coverage then people will consider a trigger that ultimately guarantees a strong public option."

The first paragraph of the story has been changed to make clear that Kerry suggested a trigger only if it becomes impossible to get the votes for a public option without one.

Ryan Grim's book, This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America, is now on sale

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[jlohman]

Delaying tactic for his insurance contributors. Nice guy!

[RightsGuy]

Here’s a A QUICK AND EASY WAY TO SEND A FAX to Kerry.

The fax is written for you— you can edit it however you wish or write your own. It will be faxed for you!

GO HERE: http://www­.1payer.ne­t/faxapp/s­enders/add­/cid:14

[RightsGuy]

TAKE ACTION:

1. CALL Senator Kerry:
Washington: 202-224-2742

Boston: [phone]

2. FAX Senator Kerry:
Washington Fax: [phone]

Boston Fax: [phone]

3. EMAIL Senator Kerry:

Web form: http://kerry.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Let him know what you think about his outrageous suggestion!

[massthreat]

What a goofball. The question I have is: who cares about a bipartisan bill when you're only gaining the support of 2 or 3, and you're removing all the teeth from it?

[Blackdogsailing]

Exactly. Do whatever else it takes to browbeat these holdout dems to agreeing but make it real reform.

[JXJASON]

Kerry is not helpful at all. We need a single payer system that is efficient and effective.

As an example, I just visited my dentist. I have no health insurance. My dentist knows that I will pay cash. He worked on me for about 20 minutes. He took an xray and replaced a filling. It cost me $39.00

The cost was very fair. God bless him.

[flowereater]

NO TRIGGER NO TRIGGER NO TRIGGER

[layman]

Health care reform has yet a long way to be concluded and this guy is preparing for a losing fight already, proving that his heart is not at winning for the people. He probably is siding with rich big corps as himself is so super rich wallowing in Heinz catchups. Half heartedly running his presidential campaign, wasting other people's resources, human and otherwise. No wonder he lost.

[DrPneumann]

The healthcare industry is spending upwards of $1.4 million each day on average to lobby members of Congress on health care legislation, a report issued by Common Cause this week reveals.

Industry spending has nearly doubled since 2000. Healthcare interests contributed $94 million to Congress members during the 2008 election cycle alone — up from $40 million in 2000.

Common Cause’s report has received almost no treatment in the press — with a single article in Bloomberg News and one in the National Journal.

The industry is attempting to alter the course of Democrats’ plans to provide universal health coverage for most Americans..

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/06/26/healthcare-spending-14-million-a-day-on-lobbyists/

[layman]

Most of the American press are spineless big corp media outfits, parasitically in existence, promoting big corps agenda.

[Prattvictory2]

Kerry's response to America's plea of "don't taze me bro" - "Yeah, I'll help you but ten years from now."

America is getting zapped on health care while Kerry mumbles something, stands by and lets it happen.

[TremoluxMan]

Under the plan floated by Kerry, a public health care option would only be triggered by private insurance companies failing to meet certain criteria after ten years. --

I call BS. First off, they get a decade of business-as-usual raking in the dough and, second, the criteria will be so artificially high or convoluted that it will never get pulled.

The only trigger likely to be pulled is on the gun held to the head of true reform.

[jmpurser]

The private health insurance companies have failed for 30 years. Consider the trigger pulled.

[FlyTheBlueSky]

Typical Kerry... always planning for legislative defeat...

[theubermensch]

I must say that in case anyone doesn't know, we have a system of checks and balances and last I checked are a democracy. All the heat is on Obama, while judges and senators are pretty much there indefinitely. American you can vote for other people. Obama is trying, but it is the congress that lacks. Their approval rating sucks. When all you libs bitch about the war, health care and gay rights remember there are 535 members of congress and one president. Obama is not going to wave his finger. Congress is the problem. Put the people in there who will do what is right. We can vote. Stop giving senators lifetime jobs, and if they suck vote them out. That's democracy and that's change.

[jmpurser]

Except Obama isn't trying to get real health care reform. He took single payer off the table and that's the only real health care reform measure we've considered.

And we're a democratic republic. Not a democracy.

[Prattvictory2]

A ten year delay in funding health care that the majority wants so they can have a ten year delay in not funding a war that no one wants.

And they call it democracy.

[rxvette]

Successful healthcare reform in the U.S. relies NOT on any politician or government ideas but rather on YOURSELF. The most important number to successful reform in America is 300,000,000

Click on the story below to find out more:

http://rxvette.blogspot.com/2009/06/biggest-key-to-health-care-reform-in-us.html

[jmpurser]

You're wrong.

[beckpod1]

Kerry is full of "ifs".....get your spine and make this happen.
Health care for profit....is like slavery is okay as long as we call them humans!