August 04, 2009 09:26 PM UTC

Bennet Speaks Up For "Public Option"

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• by: Colorado Pols

As most of you know, the federal health care reform debate has made less progress in the Senate than in the House, where bills incorporating at least some version of a “public option” insurance entity that would compete with private insurers have passed the requisite committees. Not so in the Senate, where the last major action in the Finance Committee was a compromise that strips this component from the plan–a deal-breaker on the progressive left.

This would logically be the time, following the notion that Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet is a “Conservadem” traitor (where is that damn primary challenger, anyway?)–not to mention intense pressure from righties and lobbyists–for a disappointing cave-in, fresh excoriation of “Conservadem” Bennet on lefty talk radio, MSNBC, etc.

But interestingly enough, as the Durango Herald reports:

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet supports creating an optional government-run health insurance plan as part of the health-reform bill the Senate is considering, he said Monday.

Bennet, D-Colo., also wants to look at limiting malpractice lawsuits, he told a group of doctors and nurses at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver.

The Senate will adjourn this week for the rest of August, without taking a final vote on the health-reform bill that is President Barack Obama’s highest priority in Congress. Bennet predicted a bill would pass by the end of the year, but he warned people to brace for an “ugly” month of emotional television debates on the topic…

The government plan would force private companies to compete, Bennet said Monday.

“It’s almost as if we have an industry in place whose job it is to stop people from getting the benefits of their coverage rather than to keep them well. That’s what bureaucracies do, whether they’re private bureaucracies or public bureaucracies,” Bennet said.

The Herald’s Joe Hanel is correct elsewhere in this article that this isn’t the first time Bennet has said good things about the “public option,” but the fact that he’s still doing so after a number of “Conservadem” colleagues he’s readily lumped with have defected on this key component of the bill–it should be noted. Given all the flak Bennet has caught from his own side for being cagey on various issues important to his Democratic base, it should probably be noted every time he’s not. That’s called “positive reinforcement,” a good approach if you’ve got the temperament for it.