StarBulletin.com

Groups want Akaka to join stand in favor of a public health option


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POSTED: Saturday, March 06, 2010

Three groups have started an online campaign to pressure U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka into joining an effort to revive the public health insurance option in whatever health care reform bill is considered in coming weeks.

The Hawaii Democrat previously has been supportive of a public insurance option, and in a statement Thursday he said he continues to back the idea.

The three groups want Akaka to publicly join 35 other senators, including U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, who are pushing for a Senate floor vote to add a public option element to a comprehensive health care reform measure.

“;Daniel Akaka unfortunately is saying he will be there when people don't need him but will not be there when people need him most, supporting the public option,”; said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which claims 400,000 members in the nation and 3,000 in Hawaii.

The other groups are Democracy for America, which was founded by 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, and Credo Action, which is based in California.

Under the public option, the federal government would establish a health insurance plan that would be available to people who could not obtain private insurance.

It was one of several contentious proposals that Senate committees considered last year. The public option was dropped from the measure passed by the Senate in December because a supermajority of 60 votes could not be mustered to back it.

The public option had been largely considered dead since then. President Barack Obama, who supports the concept, did not include it in the health care proposal he outlined recently.

But since mid-February Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., has been circulating a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to hold a vote on the public option under budget reconciliation rules, which require only a simply majority of 50 votes for passage. Reid and Inouye are among the senators who have signed it. Akaka has not.

“;I have consistently supported the establishment of a public health care insurance option,”; the senator said in a statement. “;However, the prospects for inclusion of a public option in reconciliation do not look favorable at this time. We will have many opportunities in the future to make further improvements to the health care proposal.”;

Green contended Akaka's signature on Bennet's letter will put the public option one step closer to passage.

“;There's a certain timidity that is taking place right now, and unfortunately Daniel Akaka is a part of that,”; Green said.

The groups also are running ads on news and political Web sites in Hawaii and Washington, D.C., and have sent 12,000 e-mails to Hawaii residents, Green added.