Is Public Health Care "Off the Table"?

"If there is ever a time for public mobilization, this is the
time, " Roger Hickey, a Co-Director of the Campaign for America Future,
tells TRNN Senior Editor Paul Jay in our latest video. Hickey says that
Americans cannot wait for President Barack Obama or the Congress to
promote and execute a universal health care plan, especially when the
recent Senate hearings on health care reform excluded single-payer
heath care advocates.

Hickeys says that "[during] this summer, the legislation is going
to be written, the deals are going to be struck, and now is the time
for the American people to weigh in" if they do not want the Congress
to "cut the heart out of the Obama health care plan."

"The real battle that the American people and everybody listening
should weigh in on is whether or not the American reform is going to
include the option of a public insurance plan," Hickey says.

As a presidential candidate, Obama pledged accessible health care
for all Americans. His campaign website states that he wants "to make
health insurance work for people and businesses, not just insurance and
drug companies."

However, Hickey urges Americans and public organizations to rally
together to demonstrate their support for a public health care program
rather than simply relying on Obama's campaign words. "...[We] can sit
here and talk about whether Obama's going to weigh in or not. The
important thing is that the American people, and organizations like
organized labor and civic organizations and consumer organizations, and
lots of other groups, women's groups, weigh in and tell the president,
'We support a public insurance option that guarantees high-quality
health care for everybody and anybody can choose it,'" he says.

To view the complete video, please click here.