(CNSNews.com) – “Hi, I'm the public option, and I need your help.” With those words, liberal activists are making a pitch “to set the record straight” on a key element of the Democrats’ health care overhaul plan.
 
In an email message to its supporters, MoveOn.org is urging Americans to call their (Democrat) senators: “[T]ell them that health care reform must include a real public health insurance option that’s available immediately,” the message says.
 
MoveOn.org opposes a “trigger” proposal that would allow a public option to kick in eventually -- but only if private insurance companies do not provide lower-cost coverage within a certain amount of time.
 
A trigger option would kill the public option “through indefinite delay,” MoveOn.org said in its email.
 
Four of the five Democrat-written health care reform plans circulating on Capitol Hill include a public option. The latest plan – now being considered by the Senate Finance Committee – does not include a public option. Instead, Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has proposed spending billions of tax dollars to establish non-profit cooperatives to compete with private insurers.
 
But Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, has introduced an amendment that would trigger a public option as a fallback.
 
A number of Democrats insist that a public option must be part of any plan they will vote for, and they see the Snowe “trigger” amendment as an unacceptable political compromise.

Democrats insist that introducing a government-run public insurance plan is the best way to encourage competition that will lead to lower premium costs. As President Barack Obama put it, a public option will “offer Americans more choices, and promote real competition, and put pressure on private insurers to make their policies affordable and treat their customers better."
 
But congressional Republicans oppose a public option, saying it will undercut private insurance plans and run them out of business. That would put the government in charge of all Americans’ health care.
 
MoveOn.org says a public option will cost 10 percent less than the “typical private plan.” That would “actually save money,” the group insists. MoveOn.org insists that a plan without a public option doesn’t have enough votes to make it through Congress.
 
Republicans argue that a number of companies would shunt workers onto the public plan precisely because it would cost less money. And that would erode private insurance, they say.
 
According to the Republican Study Committee, the ultimate goal of the public option “is the destruction of private health insurance and the implementation of single-payer health care.”
 
Republican alternatives
 
Republicans say they support health care reform – as long as it includes “common-sense, responsible solutions.”
 
Republicans say a health care overhaul must include medical liability reform, to deter “junk lawsuits” that drive up the cost of medical care.
 
Republicans say families and businesses should be allowed to buy insurance across state lines, which would provide “real choice and competition.” They also say individuals, small businesses and other groups should be able to join together to purchase insurance, the same way big businesses and labor unions do.
 
Republicans say insurers should be able to offer incentives for wellness care and prevention.
 
And Republicans agree with Democrats that all individuals should have access to coverage, regardless of preexisting conditions.
 
Republicans note that elements of their plan could be enacted immediately. President Obama has said that the main elements of the Democrat-backed plan would not start until 2013.
 

See Earlier Story:
Obama’s Health Care Speech Prompts Ten Questions from Republicans