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The CBO says only six million people — roughly 2% of all Americans — would enroll in the new, government-backed health-insurance program described in the House health-care bill. That’s a strikingly low figure given that the public option seems to have been the focus of 98% of the health-care debate.

This disconnect is result of a few factors.

There’s been so much debate over the public option because it’s such a powerful symbol for both sides: Republicans see it as a step toward a government takeover of health care, while Democrats see it as forced competition for private health insurance companies.

At the same time, an effort to win the support of centrist Democrats led congressional leaders to move toward a more moderate version of the public option that could wind up charging premiums that are “somewhat higher” than those charged by private plans, the CBO figures. What’s more, the plans would only be open to certain people.

Of course, the CBO’s estimates aren’t conclusive. So if the fate of the public option remains central to the debate, we may see partisans on both sides arguing that the CBO underestimated the number of people likely to join a new, government-backed plan.

For more, see page 6 of the CBO’s letter on the House bill and this story from the WSJ.

Photo: Associated Press

Read more from the original source:
The Public Option: Triumph of Symbol Over Substance?