First Read is speculating that the Reid will “try” to publicly push for a public option on the Senate floor, and when that fails, he will accept some worthless fig leaf like the Snowe’s trigger or Carper’s Plan B. Two strategies for Reid: Here’s something to ponder: What’s the better strategy for Reid — calling [...]

Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) is at it again. Not happy with all his previous terrible “alternatives” to the public option that he helped create, Carper is now crafting a top-secret new “Plan B,” according to the CongressDaily. Just how bad is Carper’s Plan B?Well, from what is being reported, it could be his worst idea [...]

Bill Clinton spoke to the Senate Democratic caucus today in support of health care reform. He urged them forward, telling assembled senators that this legislation is the smart thing to do politically, morally, and economically. Clinton’s pep talk should not make progressives cheer. He is still gun shy from his own failure, and he basically [...]

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was 100% correct today when he said: “More than 50 members of the Senate are supportive of a straightforward public option, even with the opt-out,” he said on ABC News’s “Top Line” webcast. “The trigger is a way for the insurance companies to win.” I completely agree. A trigger will never [...]

Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) opposes the public option and voted against both public option amendments in the Senate Finance Committee. And now, she has told the local Arkansas News that she is open to Olympia Snowe’s worthless trigger idea: “If within those first three or four years all of the things that we’re doing are not [...]

The Hill is reporting that Mike Ross is “suggesting” opening Medicare to all: Ross (D-Ark.), who had emerged as a leader among centrist Blue Dog Democrats opposing the public health insurance option, has suggested something his colleagues consider even more drastic – opening Medicare to those under 65 without insurance. Sounds like a dramatic about [...]

Olympia Snowe and Rahm Emanuel are both pushing hard for their “trigger” idea recently. The idea is the public option would only go into effect if the health insurance industry kept raising people’s rates at a rapid pace. (I believe, after studying the trigger created by Snowe, that it was designed to never be pulled. [...]

I’m sure Chairman Baucus, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and President Obama are all pleased that Republican senator Olympia Snowe voted for the Baucus bill in committee. Their goals have long been to pass anything they could slap the label “health care reform” on and declare victory. Sadly, Snowe’s support could signal a bad day for [...]

The CBO’s brutal analysis of Conrad’s proposal for small, state-based co-ops may have been the final fatal blow for the idea. The Hill reports that prospects for the co-ops are fading fast; it is an idea with few defenders and many detractors: “It doesn’t have much of a constituency beyond Conrad because it doesn’t please [...]

Carper’s one-page document explaining his new strange hybrid “alternative” idea has been published by Politico. According to the document, states would have the option of implementing one of the following: 1. Participate as grantees in the CO-OP program and apply for seed funding. 2. Open up that state’s employee benefits plan. 3. Create a state [...]