Democrats announce plan to begin crafting public option insurance bill

Congressional lawmakers are starting the process of crafting a bill that would create a government-run public option health insurance plan.

On Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued a public request for information to solicit feedback on different aspects of the bill.

The letter itself doesn’t mean much, but it’s a sign that lawmakers are serious in bringing up the idea, even if it will reportedly be left out of President Biden’s budget on Friday.

“We believe bold steps are necessary in order to achieve universal coverage and lower health care costs,” the lawmakers wrote. “As we work to draft bold legislation, our goal is to ensure that every American has quality affordable coverage regardless of income, age, race, disability, or zip code.”

The process is going to take time, as other committees will need to get involved, including some lawmakers who have shown deference to hospitals and insurers in the past. Aides say the goal is to have hearings on legislation before the end of the year. Public comments on the information request are due July 31.

Some optimism: The idea polls well. Seven in 10 Americans support a public health insurance option, and the fact that Biden campaigned on the idea shows that Democrats think the politics have evolved from 2009, when a public option was dropped from the Affordable Care Act in order to win over moderates like Joe Lieberman.

Battle lines: Republicans are almost universally opposed, as is the deep-pocketed health care industry. The American Hospital Association on Wednesday said a public option “would strip significant resources from providers by relying on inadequate reimbursement rates, increasing the risk of hospital closures and threatening access to care for patients and communities.”