With new legislation to overhaul America’s health care system pending from two Senate committees, the liberal group MoveOn will radio ads starting this weekend in Delaware, Florida, North Dakota, Maine, Washington, and Oregon urging senators from those states to support a public insurance option when the reform debate begins in earnest.
“Now is the time that every Senator needs to get off the sidelines and let the America know where they stand: With President Obama and the American public who overwhelmingly want a high-quality public health insurance option or with the HMOs and insurance giants who are fighting real reform,” said Nita Chaudhary, National Campaign and Organizing Director for MoveOn.org. “Accomplishing real reform is too important to let a few senators stand in the way of what needs to be done. MoveOn’s 5 million members are mobilized and energized for the debate this summer.”
The ad targets Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). and will air for five days. You can listen to each of them here.
The public option is a key component of reform, and a policy that President Obama supports. It can serve, among other things as a major cost saving measure by making private insurers–forced into competition with a government managed system–cut unnecessary waste. Unsurprisingly, it’s become perhaps the biggest flashpoint in the early debate over which direction the Democrats should take as they move the process through Congress.
