In today's article titled "White House appears ready to drop 'public option,'" the Associated Press reports the Obama administration is signaling it's prepared to drop the option of government-run insurance as a component of ObamaCare. The piece states in part:
Obama had sought the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured, but he never made it a deal breaker in a broad set of ideas that has Republicans unified in opposition.
Not a deal breaker? It certainly seemed to be one as recently as last month. On July 20, The Washington Post's Web site included Ezra Klein's report, "Obama Says Health-Care Reform 'Must' Include Public Option." Cited is Obama's radio address of that week, in which the president declared:
(A)ny plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans - including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest - and choose what's best for your family.
Any plan must include a public option. The language is unambiguous. Except in ObamaWorld apparently. Now we're told it was never really a deal breaker.
Conservatives have been frustrated by mainstream media efforts to at times rewrite history to Barack Obama's benefit. Here they go again.
