Hearing and listening to all of the media hype of the last few days, one could be convinced that the Baucus version released a couple of days ago is the only legislation being seriously considered in the present debate. Far from it. Not only do he have at least one House version of proposed health reform legislation, we also have another Senate version which was Reported by the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP on July 15, 2009 and introduced yesterday as the Affordable Health Choices Act S. 1679 by the Senate HELP Committee Chairman,Tom Harkin.
This bill certainly represents a different viewpoint on health care reform than the Baucus bill and we hope it will help to level the playing field in the ongong debates and discussion on health care. The HELP Committee legislation does provide for a public option. Here is some of the language from TitleXXXI Affordable Health Care Choices for All Americans that appears on page 43 of the proposed legislation:
”(3) OFFERING OF COVERAGE.-