Obama Not Supporting Public Option?

The U.S. Senate is preparing a vote on health care reform which includes a public option. It is being reported that President Obama is not supporting the public option which is strange because he is on record saying that the public option is the best way to bring competition to the health care insurance industry and ultimately lower costs for Americans.

It has been reported that the Obama administration is concerned the votes are not available for the bill with a public option. They are instead quietly pushing for a trigger that would include a public option only if the industry does not meet specific targets.

The intellectual father of the public option, Yale Professor Jacob Hacker, told Huffington Post that the trigger proposal is a betrayal.

"The trigger is an inside-the-beltway sleight of hand that would protect private insurers from the real competition that a strong public health insurance option would create," he said in an e-mail. "It is unworkable in the current Senate bills, unwise as public policy, and unwanted by the substantial majority of Americans who say they want a straight-up public option."

Brothers Connected members and family would benefit greatly from lower health insurance costs as well as more access. The public option would go a long way in dealing with the health care disparities faced by people of color when compared to white Americans.