Richard Kirsch, leader of the reform campaign Health Care for America Now says there are some nice things about the emerging public option compromise in the Senate…but it’s still not a public option.
“Our take is pretty simple,” Kirsch told me in an interview. “We’re glad to see there’s a good public option for people 55 and over, and we’re going to work hard to extend that.”
Kirsch is refering to the Medicare buy-in, which would allow people 55-64 to pay for the same insurance seniors receive from the government. In essence, that amounts to a public option.
He went on, “We don’t view non-profit insurers as a substitute for a public option. We’re not going to compromise on our principles”
“Our position has always been that we want a national, robust public option,” Kirsch said. “The closest thing we’ve seen to that is the House and that’s our position today.
