Still Surging: Public Option Picks Up Three More Backers

Three more Democratic senators said on Tuesday that they would either support the public option in a Senate floor vote or were heavily leaning that way.

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) told HuffPost that if the public insurance option comes up for a vote under reconciliation, he will vote for it it. "I would support it, yes," he said.

That puts the number of publicly committed supporters at 38 and the number of likely supporters well into the forties. With a push from the White House, the public option is now within striking distance.

Two of those likely supporters are Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

"Wow," Tester said when first asked about the prospect of a floor vote for the public option. He thought for a moment and said: "It depends on how it was designed. I've always said to folks, if a public option is designed right, I'd support it."

Dorgan sounded a similar tune. "I have responded, I guess, 20 times that I support the public option. So, you're asking hypotheticals about how it would come up. If somebody did a public option and said we're going to do Medicare rates, I probably wouldn't support that," he told HuffPost.

But if it used negotiated rates, as the House version does? "Generally, I probably would support that. I mean, I support the public option," he said.

Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) can be counted as no votes, meaning the 59-person Democratic caucus can afford to lose six more votes and still have the 50 needed to pass.

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) told HuffPost Tuesday he would "probably not" support the public option in a floor vote and that continuing to push for it is "deluding" people who still have hope.

"We don't have the votes to pass the public option in the Senate. We tried very hard to find a way to accomplish something together that would pass muster in the Senate [and] couldn't do that. For those who somehow suggest it's going to happen to now, they're deluding people," he said.

So would he vote for it?

"Probably not. I think we delude the supporters of the public option to think that it still has legs," he said.

Comments

[nodonjuan]

01:55 AM on 03/12/2010

Akaka is a self serving slug. His state already has insurance for anyone who works over twenty hours a week and has a great clinic program for people with no insurance. Why would he bust his chops for the rest of the US?

[bascombe]

10:03 AM on 03/12/2010

he said he'd vote for a public option.

[rougebaisers]

01:30 AM on 03/11/2010

This all equates yo a big fat rat in the room. The senate will never improve their disastrous bill. If the house passes it they will never see their so called improvements to it will never be realized.

[dcrinaz]

12:42 AM on 03/11/2010

Contact these holdout senators! Demand they vote for health care with the Public Option NOW!

Max Baucus (MT) http://baucus.senate.gov/?p=contact ph: 202-224-2651
Evan Bayh (IN) http://bayh.senate.gov/contact/email/ ph:[phone]
Mark Begich (AK) http://begich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=EmailSenator ph:202-224-3004
Robert Byrd (WV) http://byrd.senate.gov/contacts/ ph: 202-224-3954
Tom Carper (DE) http://carper.senate.gov/contact/ ph:202-224-2441
Kent Conrad (ND) http://conrad.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm
Kay Hagan (NC) http://hagan.senate.gov/contact/ ph: 202-224-6342
Tom Harkin (IA) http://harkin.senate.gov/contact_opinion.cfm ph: 202-224-3254
Herb Kohl (WI) http://kohl.senate.gov/contact.cfm ph: 202-224-5653
Mary Landrieu (LA) http://landrieu.senate.gov/about/contact.cfm ph: 202-224-5824
Blanche Lincoln (AR) http://lincoln.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm ph: 202-224-4843
Claire McCaskill (MO) http://mccaskill.senate.gov/?p=contact ph: 202-224-6154
Bill Nelson (FL) http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm ph: 202-224-5274
Ben Nelson (NE) http://bennelson.senate.gov/email-issues.cfm ph: 202-224-6551
Mark Pryor (AR) http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/ ph: 202-224-2353
Jay Rockefeller (WV) http://rockefeller.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm ph: 202-224-6472
Mark Warner (VA) http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Contact ph: 202-224-2023
Jim Webb (VA) http://webb.senate.gov/contact.cfm ph: 202-224-4024

[bascombe]

11:01 PM on 03/10/2010

a public 'option' of pooled overpriced private insurance plans is just another corporate giveaway.

[MikeNice]

08:10 AM on 03/11/2010

I'm pretty sure a public option would mirror the one in the House bill, and that's not what it was in the House bill at all. It was an actual government run insurance company that would be 1 of many other private choices in an exchange. The exchange would only be available to people without insurance options or small businesses. But the public option would limit how much the private companies can charge and remain competitive. Personally I'm for medicare for all, but don't confuse the issue.

[bascombe]

10:05 AM on 03/12/2010

have a look at the public option in the senate bill and then tell me how many senators actually endorsed the house version. the royalists in the senate will never vote fo an option that benefits anyone other than their corporate benefactors.

[Melinda Gopher]

10:07 PM on 03/10/2010

If Sen. Tester supports the public option, which was a weak compromise to begin with...that is great news.

[Joe P]

09:55 PM on 03/10/2010

A majority of the American people WANT the public option! The failure of Congress to pass healthcare with the public option would only prove that the insurance industry has way too much influence.
The lobbyists play their game well. First they outright oppose H/C reform.......then they say "we will help you write the legislation" to twist it into something which benefits them (insurance industry).......and then they let us fight for WHAT THEY WANT! Wake up people! 41 (Nine to go!) Senators have signed letter to say they would vote for healthcare with a public option. Call AND write your Senator today. Thank them if they signed and demand that they sign on if they have not. It is time they honor the wishes of the people and NOT the insurance industry!
This is not about Democrats or Republicans......it is about the will of the American people! If they do not respect the wishes of the people....THROW THEM OUT!
Joseph Pijanowski

[Libgirl746]

07:14 PM on 03/11/2010

'' it is about the will of the American people! If they do not respect the wishes of the people....THROW THEM OUT!''

Right you are. I just got off the phone with Sen. Mary Landrieu's voice mail and I told her that exact same thing. This is my fifth call and I have sent numerous e-mails. She knows the drill.

[Insiteful]

08:12 PM on 03/10/2010

Why hasn't Kay Hagen (NC) signed on.....interesting.

I called her Wash., DC. office this morning, and specifically asked if she was supporting the Public Option, and her aide said, yes, she was. I don't see official notification that she's signed up.

C'mon, North Carolinians, let's bombard her offcie tomorrow, and get outr point across Re.: the Public Option.

[Madbunny]

07:56 PM on 03/10/2010

There is and has always been a strong support for the public option among the American people. We can see how popular programs like Social Security and Medicare are. Even mention making changes to that and people lose their minds.

The public option is also popular, even though it's been strongly demonized. The reason it still has legs at all, is *because* the voters don't want to give up on it. It's been killed already several times, most dramatically recently by Leiberman, and Obamas failure to push for it. The democratic party needs to pass some kind of substantial health care reform. Simply changing the way insurance companies can collect their rates does not strike any kind of passion with the voting public. The voting public already knows that insurance companies largely don't give a damm about their clientele, only about profit margins. That's why the public want an option where none existed before.

[ProIrishDem]

06:12 PM on 03/10/2010

if you are against health care reform you are;

- easily duped by disinformation and fearmongering
-being paid by some lobbyist and owe your soul to them as long as you are voted back in
-are a member of the republican party and vote according to what Rush Limbaugh or Karl Rove tells you to
-are white and cannot be for ANYTHING that a black man is (even if he is right)
-are rich and just don't care
-HAVE insurance paid for you and just don't care
-HAVE never been sick and just don't care or think about it
-don't believe the mound of truth in statistics that the system is broken
-don't care that YOU pay 1000 dollars for everybody that uses emergency rooms without insurance
-don't care if people suffer with the worry of paying health bills or that they lose everything they have along with their families( inclusive of innocent children )
-don't care that 62% of personal bankruptcies are related to medical bills
.don't care that single payer is the best and most efficient system implemented in most other western
democracies
-don't care that people may d1e as a result from one or all of the above..

HOW is that American ? or even human -- ?

reconciliation is coming and the decimation of the party of NO in November.

Regards,
An irish Friend.

[gparks]

07:36 PM on 03/10/2010

Great obsrvations!
Fanned and Faved

[Maria333]

07:48 PM on 03/10/2010

Great comment.

[bdl0715]

05:18 PM on 03/10/2010

I think anyone that doesn't want the public option should move to Costa Rica with Rush. Oh yeah, Costa Rica has socialized medicine.

[bascombe]

11:03 PM on 03/10/2010

what 'public option' are you referring to?

[Reddogtcb]

05:13 PM on 03/10/2010

How would a small business not be for the public option? If a business spends 250k in cash on their employees a year. What could they be using that cash for iinstead? Expansion of the business? R&D? Something better than insurance companies I would hope...

There would be less stress on the business in down times with less cash going out. Even in they had all 250k go to profit, what % would it have to be before the business was not better off?

Sure individuals would have either income tax or sales tax higher, but that is where the benefit is used, the individual, not the business. How many more employees could be hired on 250k if the business only had to worry about salary? A few I'd say. Maybe I'm missing something...

[blueskybigstar]

04:07 PM on 03/10/2010

Thank you, Irish Red.

I just called Senator Tom Carper. His assistant told me that he would not be signing on because he feels that such broad legislation should not be done through reconciliation. I said that I believe that he is in the pocket of the insurance industry, that he would never support it, that his reasons were b.s., and that he will find a lot of trouble being reelected with this stand on this position.

202 224 2441

[Maria333]

07:54 PM on 03/10/2010

Good for you.That's the way to go.

[Libgirl746]

07:40 PM on 03/11/2010

I called Senator Mary Landrieu's Washington office and got her voice mail. There is tomorrow, though. Will start again bright and early. Good for you and with your permission, I will use your same words, because I know that she recieves millions from the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical companies. Let's keep at them. Thanks in advance.

[blueskybigstar]

03:58 PM on 03/10/2010

All I know is that Tom Carper is the one deluding and we should let him know that he will not be reelected unless he supports it.

[PaiaGirl]

03:38 PM on 03/10/2010

Thank you Sen Akaka!

Too bad our Representative Abercrombie resigned and is likely to be replaced by Blue Dog, Ed Case (Steve (AOL) Case's cousin and able to raise lots of $$)

[Yikes11]

02:43 PM on 03/10/2010

Surely you jest, the Queen'?