Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said on Tuesday that she is opposed to the creation of a public health care plan patients could opt into that would compete with private insurance. "No, I’m not open to it. I’m not open to a public option," said Landrieu. "However, I will remain open to a compromise, a full compromise. Public option is not something that I support. I don’t think it’s the right way to go."
Landrieu is a key swing-voting "centrist" Democrat. Her vote may be less valuable, however, if Democrats decide to move health care reform through the Senate using the reconciliation process, which requires only a majority vote.
In May, Landrieu told the Huffington Post she was leaning against the public option but still considering it. "I am actually not sure," she said at the time. "I don’t think I am [for it], but I told the folks that are promoting it that I would talk with them, but I am an original cosponsor of the Wyden-Bennett bipartisan proposal — the only bipartisan proposal that I know of. And so I’m going to stay focused on that as a core, but I’m not going to shut the door on anything right now."
We elected Democrats this year in order to get progressive policies that serves us all. We elected them because we assumed that it was the Republicans that were in the pocket of the health insurance companies. Now the insurance companies are buying the Democrats we elected. It is time for us to make a list of the Democrats that are living up to the Republican’s expectation and begin working on candidates to oppose them in the primaries. A list will be posted shortly with Democrats targeted for defeat during their next respective election.