Washington Post -- Public option at center of debate

Thanks to the Washington Examiner for pointing this out in their email of morning reads.

Shocking what you find out about the bill when people have time to read it -- no wonder Reid wanted a hurried up vote on the bill to bring it to the floor for debate. If it had gone through Committee, a lot of these things would have been discovered like the part of the bill that pertains to gun owners.

For the healthcare bill to contain anything about gun owners is beyond our comprehension. What, they cannot get a bill passed on controlling guns so they put it in the healthcare bill? There are millions of responsible gun owners in this Country so why should they have to pay higher insurance. The gun problem in this Country usually stems from illegal gun owners.

We note that the outing of this gun provision in the bill comes from the group Gun Owners of America not the NRA.

Washington Post -- Public option at center of debate
Nov 23, 2009

It’s the same problem that smart writers, like Examiner colleague Susan Ferrechio have been telling us about since early spring: a health plan with a new government health insurance entitlement cannot pass the Senate.

What the Obama administration has opted to do is push off that truth as long as possible in hopes that opposition to federal insurance could be worn down and then eventually washed away by the tide of public support.

Must have looked good on paper.

As I argue in my column today, the president and Democratic leaders find themselves running against the predominant public attitude. People are desperate for better choices on health care, but the majority party is offering them an outdated, partisan, expensive solution.

Writer Shalaigh Murray looks at the struggle for another 60 votes in the Senate without letting the amendment process become a do-over on rewriting the bill.

Complicating things is the fact that Reid and other lawmakers peppered the bill with potentially divisive subjects like abortion and, strangely, gun ownership.

“The conservative group Gun Owners of America sent out an action alert to its 300,000 members on Friday warning that the Senate legislation would mandate that doctors provide "gun-related health data" to "a government database," including information on mental-health issues detected in patients, which could jeopardize their ability to obtain a firearms license.

In addition, the group said the legislation's ‘wellness’ provisions -- designed to encourage more healthful lifestyles -- would allow federal officials to mandate that companies charge higher insurance premiums for employees who own guns.”