Can the public option be used as an option if health care insurance costs remain too high?

That is what Senator Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, proposed Saturday. The “public option plan” be used as a “possible back-up,” she says.

Recently, The Economist, a business-oriented newspaper published by a British company, endorsed the same idea. Set standards to be met in five years. If insurance companies do not meet those targets, the public option plan would go into effect.

Sen. Snowe, as this story says, is hardly alone in proposing amendments. Already there are 564.

Medicare is struggling but Republicans fear a government plan will have an unfair price advantage over private plans.

A number of surveys of physicians show a majority of them support the public option. Doctors tend to be more conservative than not so these results are a surprise. Also, as one study’s authors noted, their interviews were conducted before the August debate became so contentious. That could influence some to change their minds, perhaps. However, when one sees multiple studies from independent sources—-as well as informal ones, such as those on a physician news service—trending in support of the public option, that is worth paying attention to.

Two questions are key.

First, will the majority of doctors continue to feel that the public option plan is necessary?

Second, if so, will they influence their patients who ask them what they think?

Much of the success or failure of the public option part of the health care reform bill will come out of those exam room chats.

President Obama has said he wants health care reform, period, and, while he supports the public option, it is not a deal-breaker for him. He does not want the whole bill brought down if there is not enough support for the public option.

The New York Times

“Senator Olympia J. Snowe, a pivotal Republican, described on Saturday the changes she wanted to see in a comprehensive health care bill to make insurance more affordable, and she proposed a government insurance company as a possible backup to the private market if coverage remains too costly. (Emphasis added)

“Ms. Snowe’s proposal was among 564 amendments filed in the last couple of days by members of the Senate Finance Committee, which plans to take up the legislation this week as the struggle over health care enters a critical new phase.

“A bipartisan group of six committee members met for more than three months in an effort to form a compromise. Amendments proposed by two Republicans in that group, Senators Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming, show irreconcilable differences with Democrats on some issues.

“President Obama and many Democrats want to create a government insurance plan to compete with private insurers. They say it would hold down costs. But Republicans say a government plan would have inherent advantages and could drive private insurers from the market, leading to a huge expansion of the federal role.”

Source: New York Times, September 19, 2009