Today in Healthcare

Public option gains support: Clear Majority Now Backs Plan.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health-care plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and wins clear majority support from the public.

Americans remain sharply divided about the overall packages moving closer to votes in Congress and President Obama's leadership on the issue, reflecting the partisan battle that has raged for months over the administration's top legislative priority. But sizable majorities back two key and controversial provisions: both the so-called public option and a new mandate that would require all Americans to carry health insurance.

Independents and senior citizens, two groups crucial to the debate, have warmed to the idea of a public option, and are particularly supportive if it would be administered by the states and limited to those without access to affordable private coverage.

This is the kind of cognitive dissonance I will never understand about American non-progressives: They're scared of a public option because it might limit their choice, but then they support a public option being limited only to people without access to anything else. So people who get insurance through their job can't opt into the public option if they're unhappy with their plan. And people who can afford some shitty private coverage can't opt into the public option if they're unhappy with their plan. And the public option is for people who only have that option. Meaning that no one has any choices. STILL. Except for the wealthy and healthy who can pay for whatever private plan they want. Great.

The longer this goes on, the worse this reform is going to be. I'm starting to genuinely fear that whatever happens now is only going to push single-payer universal healthcare down the road even further.

Meanwhile, Shaker Hoshi sends this blub-inducing story about a husband and father who's joined the Army at age 39 just to get health coverage for his wife, who is battling ovarian cancer. And every idiot in Congress who's against single payer, not just the public option, should read this and explain why they refuse to make our country a place where no one has to worry about coverage or paperwork or this plan or that plan, but instead can just walk into a hospital and get the goddamned treatment they need.