The very basic logic of the public option is this: Most Democrats support a strong public option, most Republicans oppose Democratic health care reform period, so perhaps Democrats can win over a few Republicans if they keep government out of the insurance industry and create a system of privately-held health-care co-operatives instead. Simple right?
Not if the RNC has anything to say about it.
They’re out today with a new release, attacking the co-op idea and charging that the the “reports of the public option’s demise” are “greatly exaggerated.”
So if at the very least you thought that the Democrats could escape the “government run health care” canard by, say, dropping their plans to create a government run health insurance system, you were mistaken. As the RNC makes clear, in their eyes, “Public option by any other name is still government-run health care.”