By David Swanson
The latest I’m told is that the Kucinich amendment to allow states to do single-payer healthcare is still in the House bill.
The Wyden amendment is not a substitute for it. That one is worded in a way that could allow states that have been bad on healthcare, such as Tennessee, to opt out of national reform in favor of a right wing free market approach. The Wyden amendment is regressive for those states without the apparatus to pass single payer, which is the vast majority of them right now.
The proposal from my congressman, Tom Perriello, and other right-leaning Democrats for a “congressional option” is not a detailed proposal, and is vague enough to be for the public option what Wyden is for state single-payer, a means of creating a corporate alternative.