By Scott Hensley

We're new here in Washington, so most of the political folkways are lost on us. Much of what happens seems like "dynamic equilibrium," one of the few things we remember from high school chemistry class. Lots of little things change, canceling each other out, so nothing big seems to budge.

Nancy Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to push for a public option.(Lauren Victoria Burke/AP)

So, we wonder, is there really progress on adding a "robust public option" to health overhaul, after a key Senate committee seemed to send the idea to its doom? During the day yesterday, it sure seemed like it, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid talking it up.

Today? Not so clear. As Politico's Mike Allen writes today, Pelosi isn't so sure she can get the votes for the government-sponsored alternative she prefers.

The White House supposedly likes the idea of a trigger, Politico says, which Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, the lone Senate aisle-crosser so far, has advocated. The public option would be a hammer, held in reserve, to be used only if the private market comes up short.

Then there's the opt-out public option. Build a government-sponsored insurance plan but let states bail out if they don't want to offer it.

The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn wrote about the ups and downs on the Treatment blog, adding this morning, "Like I was saying, things are changing by the minute. ... Pelosi's office is denying that the count is finished. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

There might be some movement next week. Or maybe not.

categories: Health Overhaul

11:57 - October 23, 2009

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