Consider The Game Changed

If liberals and progressives, both in Congress and as regular citizens, do not scream this information out loudly and repeatedly until somebody pays attention, then we don't DESERVE a public option in health care reform. Its all right there for the taking, but we have to actually get the word out.

From Ezra Klein:

According to Congress Daily, the CBO says attaching the public plan to Medicare rates will save even more money than originally thought:

In a bid to wrangle concessions from the Blue Dog Coalition on healthcare reform, House leaders Thursday released CBO estimates for liberals' preferred version of the public option that show $85 billion more in savings than for the version the Blue Dogs prefer.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., a Blue Dog co-chair, said any possible new momentum toward a public option tethered to Medicare rates is, in part, "because of the cost issue" and the updated CBO score.

The original House bill required the public plan to pay providers 5 percent more than Medicare reimbursement rates. But as part of a package of concessions to Blue Dogs, the House Energy and Commerce Committee accepted an amendment that requires the HHS Secretary to negotiate rates with providers. That version of the plan will save only $25 billion.

In total, a public plan based on Medicare rates would save $110 billion over 10 years. That is $20 billion more than earlier estimates, a spokesman for House Speaker Pelosi said.

There is absolutely no way for someone who calls themselves a fiscally conservative Democrat to argue against a public option at this point. And if they try it exposes them for the corporatist hypocrites that they really are.