Bonveda's Blog

Everyone cares which side Sen. Arlen Specter is on and what difference it makes. In Washington, the focus is more often on his party. Here in Pennsylvania, however, the critical question is where Sen. Specter stands in the struggle to reform health care.

Last week we got a little better idea when Sen. Specter signed a letter supporting many of the goals of Health Care for America Now (HCAN). Health Care for America Now is the largest organization working for health care reform in the country and one of the largest issue movements in American history.

In doing so Sen. Specter moved closer to his new colleagues who have signed the HCAN statement of principles, including Sen. Bob Casey and all 11 Democratic members of the House of Representatives, who come from every corner of the Commonwealth.

Like his colleagues, Sen. Specter expressed support for new rules for insurance companies that require them to offer comprehensive care to all and that prevent them from denying coverage or charging more for people who are older, who are sicker, who are women, or who have pre-existing or chronic medical conditions.

The senator has also recognized the importance of providing subsidies to help individuals with low incomes or small businesses purchase insurance for themselves or their employees under either a public or private plan.

His action is especially significant because it marks the first time Sen. Specter said he was open to considering one of HCAN's key tenets, giving all Americans a choice between private health insurance that operates under new rules and a public health care insurance plan modeled after Medicare. Until recently, Sen. Specter had been closed to the concept.

His new willingness to consider a public health insurance plan comes in response to the hundreds of calls he's received from Pennsylvanians urging his support and the plain good sense of the idea.

Why do we need a public health insurance plan? Simply put, because we all suffer when the insurance industry is in charge of our health care. Forty-seven million Americans have no health insurance. Premiums for those of us who have insurance have gone up six times faster than our wages over the last nine years.

New rules for insurance companies are not enough to resolve these problems. Sen. Specter, who has long defended the virtues of competition and choice, is beginning to recognize that they are the key to health care reform.

Here in Pennsylvania, and in most of the country, a few big insurers have a corner on the market, making it difficult for individuals and small businesses to shop for insurance. Without any competition in the market, insurers can charge higher prices and the rest of us get squeezed. Competition from a public health insurance plan will force insurance companies to control costs while still providing high-quality health care -- otherwise, consumers will have the power to vote with their feet and choose a different plan.

Having the choice of a public or private plan will provide the backstop we all need to guarantee that health insurance is available to us. If we have private insurance now and like it, we will be able to keep it. If not, we will be able to get insurance from another private insurer or join the new public health insurance plan.

In his letter to us, Sen. Specter said he looks forward to ''discussing and considering'' the public health insurance option. So we will continue to urge our supporters to keep reminding him, and our other members of Congress, that health-care reform will only work for all of us if it includes a strong public insurance plan that provides real competition to private insurers.

That's long been the view the view of experts on health care reform. It is the view of the majority of American citizens. And, Sen. Specter's openness to the idea indicates that it is becoming the dominant view in Washington as well.

Marc Stier of Philadelphia is the

Pennsylvania director of Health Care for America Now.