Universal Health Care, Public Option | featured news

Obama urges Senate Dem to pass bill; Lieberman signals support if buy-in plan is dropped.

44 | President calls Senate plan "a creative new framework" to provide coverage to uninsured without relying on government insurance option.

Democrats are engaged in urgent talks to work out a compromise on one of the most contentious health care issues: a proposal for the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies.

What's all the fuss about? After all the noise over Democrats' push for a government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, ...

The plan would offer a U.S.-run insurance program but drop cost controls backed by liberals. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the compromise would make healthcare more affordable for the middle class.

In shift, many lawmakers now expect final bill will include form of government-run insurance for people without employer-based health coverage.

Their plan is estimated below Obama's $900-billion price tag. House Democrats are aiming to scale back the cost of their healthcare bill below President Obama's price tag by giving the government a strong hand in selling insurance in competition with the private market.

Measures pending in Congress push insurers to keep down costs and cover all regardless of health. Despite growing frustration with the way health insurers deny medical treatments, major healthcare bills pending in Congress would give patients little new power to challenge those sometimes life-and-death decisions.

While Obama believes a gov't-run health care would best meet his reform goals, aides say he's not demanding it.

For President Obama, giving up on a public insurance plan could punch a hole in Republican arguments but could also alienate liberal Democrats.