WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s hopes for a bipartisan health deal seemed in jeopardy Thursday as GOP senators protested his renewed support for a new public health insurance plan, and a key Democratic chairman declared that such a plan would likely be in the Senate’s bill.
A public plan that would compete with private insurers is opposed by nearly all Republicans. Obama long has supported it, but he had avoided going into detail about his health goals, leaving the specifics to Congress and emphasizing hopes for a bipartisan bill.
"If he wants a bipartisan bill, he has to recognize that a government-run plan doesn’t get you to a bipartisan plan,” said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.
Many Democrats, meanwhile, insist that a final bill must contain a public plan.
"I think a bill that passes the Senate will have some version of a public option,” Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said Thursday.
by the associated press
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