Today, during an event at the Center for American Progress Action Fund about reforming the health care system, ThinkProgress asked Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) if he agreed with Gov. Howard Dean’s (D-VT) argument that the government can’t improve the efficiency and quality of the health care system without giving Americans the choice of enrolling in a new public health care plan:
Let’s see what we come up with. I think we can accomplish the objective [Dean] wants without [a public plan]. We can, we’re going to have to work on it. But we may have to have it, [Dean] may be right. Just don’t know yet.
Watch it:
The public, however, supports a public option. According to a poll by Lake Research, “73% of voters want everyone to have a choice of private health insurance or a public health insurance plan while only 15% want everyone to have private insurance.” The Wonk Room has more here.