Is Senate ‘Compromise’Really a Public Option on Steroids?

Chicago Tribune

 Liberal Senators love Reids “compromise”

The unexpected new proposal for breaking the impasse over the so-called public option won President Barack Obama’s endorsement Wednesday and sent hopes surging among a wide array of Democrats that the way may be clearing to pass their massive Senate health care bill by Christmas.

The deal,which emerged late Tuesday night after days of secret negotiations,would eliminate the new government-run insurance plan that many liberals had seen as the linchpin of meaningful reform.

But paradoxically,what lies at the heart of the compromise may be a more durable,if initially smaller,form of the public option:an expansion of Medicare,the huge federal health insurance program for seniors,to include millions of Americans ages 55 through 64.

And by enlarging Medicare eligibility,the compromise could sharply expand the base of political support,giving ordinary Americans a concrete stake in what many may have seen as a distant battle among drug companies,doctors and other interests.

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