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Senate lawmakers voted down two amendments this week to include a public option in a bill that would reform our nation’s health care system.
By an 8-15 vote on the first measure and 10-13 vote on the second, members of the Senate Finance Committee rejected proposals that would have created a public option for health care to bring much-needed competition into the U.S. insurance industry.
Among the Democratic senators who voted against the bill were Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR).
“The insurance industry is all about bottom lines when it should be about helping people. The sole purpose of having a public option is to reverse that,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “Tuesday’s vote was essentially a vote to see whose side senators are on. And, for those who voted against the amendments, the answer is loud and clear.”
