Politico - Is It Time for Public Option? Senate Dems Lead New Push Today

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By Dan Diamond

Hillary Clinton releases a second letter from her doctor, while Donald Trump takes the stage with Dr. Oz. But first: the public option rises again.

IS IT TIME FOR PUBLIC OPTION? SENATE DEMOCRATS LEAD NEW PUSH TODAY -- Top legislators and prominent progressives are throwing their weight behind the public option this morning, a joint effort intended to strengthen Hillary Clinton's call for a public option ahead of the upcoming debates and tee up the proposal as a legislative priority for 2017.

In the Senate: A new resolution filed by Sen. Jeff Merkley calls for every American to have the choice of a public health insurance option. The resolution has the backing of three members of leadership -- Sens. Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Patty Murray -- as well as other notable progressive figures, like Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"At a time when 29 million people are still uninsured, and 31 million are underinsured, we must continue to make needed health care reforms," Sanders said in a statement. "Insurance companies have shown they are more concerned with serving their shareholders than their customers."

In the grassroots: At least a half-dozen organizations like the AFL-CIO will blast the announcement to millions of their members today, trying to build momentum on the ground. They've found a convenient villain: Activists are arguing that Aetna's decision to quit many ACA exchanges forced their hand.

"We see this as the most significant health care push by Democrats since the passage of Obamacare," said Stephanie Taylor, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is partnering with Senate Democrats on the effort. "Aetna's failed extortion attempt and decision to exit 11 states has created new urgency for making a public option available to every American."

By the numbers: The coalition pointed to a 2013 CBO analysis that projected a national public option would lower federal health spending by $158 billion over a decade. Advocates also argued that it would help guarantee near-universal health coverage for Americans.

However, analysts say that Clinton's proposal could take the form of a state-by-state public option, and not all states would opt in, which would reduce its effects on the deficit and the uninsured rate.

Will it work? Between Republican resistance and Democrats' wariness after the last public option fight, the proposal would face long odds in Congress, and experts have raised questions over its viability. However, insurers' departures from the exchanges have created new momentum to improve competition -- especially in the nearly 1,000 counties that may have just a single Obamacare insurer next year.

"It's hard to imagine anything but a public option of some kind as a backstop if no insurers are willing to participate in an area," Kaiser Family Foundation's Larry Levitt told PULSE. But it wouldn't be a panacea for all of Obamacare's other problems, like its less-than-ideal risk pool. "While a public option could fill in where there's inadequate competition, it wouldn't do anything to get more healthy people to enroll," Levitt added.

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