Efforts to measure support for the public option continue

Associated Press:  Democratic leaders in Congress scrambled Friday to round up votes for allowing the government to sell health insurance in competition with private industry as they struggled to finalize a health care bill that meets President Barack Obama's goals." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spent Friday "calling and talking with wavering Democrats to test support for different versions of the plan."

"A similar process was under way in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi was scratching for votes in favor of her preferred version of the so-called public option, even though opposition from moderates seemed to indicate that the votes weren't there." Pelosi said Democratic leaders are continuing to count the votes and "by no means is that count complete."

Earlier on Friday, Pelosi appeared with AARP officials "to announce new benefits in the House bill for seniors" -- a key constituency for health overhaul proposals. She said the bill would "close a coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug benefit over 10 years, instead of the 15 originally envisioned, and also moves up to 2010 from 2011 a new 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs purchased by seniors who fall in the coverage gap. Aides couldn't say how much the changes cost or how they would be paid for" (Werner, 10/23).

Bloomberg reports on the various public option approaches that are getting attention. "Senate Democrats are leaning toward including a government-run insurance plan in U.S. health-care legislation, and House leaders signaled there may be room for compromise on the issue, one of the most divisive in Congress."

In order to keep Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the only Republican so far to support health overhaul legislation, and "pacify" some Democrats, "lawmakers are weighing whether to embrace [Snowe's] idea of only triggering a public option if insurance rates aren't low enough. Another possibility is to start with a public option that would pay higher rates than Medicare and allow states to opt out. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today said she doesn't see 'much problem with that.' Pelosi also said at a press conference today that "At the end of the day, we will have a public option in our legislation," Pelosi said (Jensen and Rowley, 10/23).