New Haven Independent

DeLauro, a New Haven Democrat, is in the thick of her second battle in Washington to overhaul the country’s health care system by lowering costs and covering the uninsured.

She’s part of the House leadership that just included a controversial “public option” in its version of the reform bill making its way to the eager hands of President Barack Obama. The “option” is a Medicare-like government insurance plan that would cover many of the 47 million uninsured Americans who can’t get private health insurance through their employers or elsewhere.

The plan, announced last week, aims to cover 95 percent of the uninsured; require all Americans to have insurance; cut costs; and tax companies that don’t provide insurance to employees.

The “public” plan has met with public approval in opinion polling. But in the face of intensive insurance industry lobbying and Republican opposition, it has met with resistance in the Senate and on the airwaves. President Obama, although a supporter of the public option, has started backing away from it.

The fight recalls the battle over the last attempt to overhaul health care, when President Bill Clinton took over in 1993. Rep. DeLauro was in the thick of that battle too, then, as now, supporting an expanded government role. The reform plan crumbled in the face of an industry and conservative assault ridiculing the idea that government can manage health care as well as private insurers, a campaign symbolized by the fear-inducing “Harry and Louise” television commercials. (Sample them here.)

Asked about the parallels, DeLauro said this week that times have changed since 1993, boosting the chances of passing reform, including the public option.

DeLauro was part of the House of Representatives Democratic leadership team that introduced a bill including the public plan. It wouldn’t require people to sign up; it would give them the choice of enlisting or sticking with private insurance plans.

But a key Democratic leader in the Senate, Finance Chairman Max Baucus, has balked at including the public plan in his version of the bill, worrying about losing Republican and centrist support.

“I honestly believe this is a different environment than 1993. That’s true of everyone who’s a stakeholder in this effort, starting with the federal government with the accountability and transparency built into the process,” DeLauro said during a stop in New Haven, the ribbon-cutting on an affordable-housing complex.

“It’s beyond public mood. Everyone understands that the current health care system is not one that people can afford. It’s not acceptable. We have 47 million people who are uninsured. We have got to do something about health care reform.

“That doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be some serious debates and there aren’t going to be pushbacks. But I think there’s a much different atmosphere, understanding that we need to have health care reform.”

She predicted the House would pass the version of the health reform bill with a public option “front and center.”

“I don’t know yet about the Senate,” she added, urging supporters of a public option to lobby politicians.

Opponents argue that the public option is a back-door effort to bring about Canadian-style single-payer health insurance, in which all Americans are covered by one large, government-run pool. Private insurers won’t be able to compete with the government plan, they argue.

“Insurance companies will find a way to compete” in order to “get a piece of the market,” DeLauro predicted.

She said reform proponents have learned from the 1993 defeat. One lesson: some people want to keep their private plans. Any successful plan must allow them to.

“People will have a choice … for what best fits” them, she said.

Another lesson: compromise.

“When you’re crafting legislation, you may not get 100 percent of what you want,” DeLauro argued. “That’s true for everyone. You have to then what is in over the overall best interest. How are we going to keep the cost down? How are we going to make sure people have access to health care.”