Wyden Votes Yes on Public Option, Panel Rejects

Originally at StatesmanJournal.com

September 30, 2009 -- Sen. Ron Wyden on Tuesday voted in support of a public health insurance option to compete with the private market as the key committee he sits on shot down the measure twice.

The public-option legislation was imperfect, the senior Democratic senator from Oregon said, and he had wrestled with it for months as the Senate struggled with its still-evolving health care reform legislation.

Still, he thought a public plan was worth supporting as part of a broader effort to enhance competition in the insurance market.

"I cast my vote for the public option as a vote for choice and reform," he said.

But he said, "I have (deep) concerns about the current shortage of real choice and real reform in this health bill."

Wyden is a member of the Finance Committee, which voted 15-8 and 13-10 Tuesday against legislative amendments that would have created a public plan.

Opponents of the public option argue it would drive private health insurers out of business and pave the way to a government takeover of the business.

Read more at StatesmanJournal.com

A vote on Wyden's Free Choice Amendment is expected today.

Wyden made the following statement following the vote on Tuseday:

The legislation before us currently does not offer enough real competition to keep Americans from continuing to be abused by health insurers and held captive by large employers. Without the ability to hold insurers accountable for their costs and quality of service, without the ability to get a better deal and stop the ongoing erosion of wages, most working families will be no better off after this bill passes than they are today. While I have some concerns about using Medicare reimbursement rates for the public option, I have far deeper concerns about the current shortage of real choice and real reform in this health bill. I cast my vote for public option as a vote for choice and reform.

He also posted the following statement on Facebook:

Today, in the Senate Finance Committee, I voted for the Rockefeller and Schumer public option amendments. Regrettably, both of those amendments lost, but I will continue to fight for real choices for working families as the debate goes forward. We ...must offer enough real competition to keep Americans from continuing to be abused by health insurers and held captive by large employers.

Also, check out this exchange Wyden had on MSNBC the other day with a health insurance lobbyist: