Public Plan: Larsen Opposed, Baird Equivocates

By Evan at July 24th, 2009.

President Barack Obama’s window to institute a government-run health care plan is quickly closing.  For several weeks now, public support has been slipping for the President’s public plan.  Now, that slip in public opinion is causing even members of his own party to more carefully hedge their bets.

Yesterday’s Bellingham Herald carried the story of Larsen’s downright refusal to support Obama’s government takeover attempt of what amounts to one-sixth of the U.S. economy:

Larsen doesn’t support a single-payer, or “universal,” health-care plan, and the idea hasn’t gained traction in Congress, either.

At the other end of the state, today’s edition of The Columbian tells the story of Baird’s weariness to support Obama and his Party’s leadership on the issue:

A clinical psychologist by training, Baird said he would support a government-run public option for health care coverage, but only if the government competed with private insurance companies to cover Americans “on a level playing field.”

Even Obama’s top advocate in Washington State has expressed her reservations–in the New York Times, no less–and shared by many other Governors, both Republican and Democrat, with the President’s approach:

“As a governor, my concern is that if we try to cost-shift to the states we’re not going to be in a position to pick up the tab,” said Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington, also a Democrat.

Gregoire, who is likely not wanting to distance herself too far from Obama (at least, not yet), told Les Blumenthal of McClatchy that the President needs to hurry up:

President Obama needs to keep the pressure on Congress to quickly approve health care reform, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday, adding that if Congress doesn’t act it could be years before there is another chance.

Tags: 1st C.D., 3rd C.D., Barack Obama, Brian Baird, featured, President Obama, Public Plan, Rick Larsen

Tweet This Post to Facebook Digg This Bookmark at Delicious
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.