We have 30 votes for the public option, but we knew that already. None of them were in question. Now comes the hardest part. The final twenty votes. There's a full list of 29 below the fold, and we must have twenty from it to pass this thing. That is the goal here, to pass a public option. Which public option? No one is really saying, so you have to assume it's the one with an opt-out or opt-in clause that will limit the public option's negotiating power. For sure it's the public option that is not available to anyone who's employer (or state?) offers insurance (no matter how expensive or insufficient that insurance is). It will also be a public option not tied to medicare rates, or you lose Klobuchar and Al Franken's vote. Correct me if I'm wrong but what we're left with is going to be an expensive gov't insurance option mostly for the well off and/or unemployed not in Hawaii, Massachusetts, most of the red states, or Pennsylvania (if they get state singlepayer). Is that still worth fighting for? Probably, as a foot in the door. Is it a huge deal? No.
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