Democrats Schumer, Brown Trumpet Merits Of Public Option

By John DuBois – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

During a news conference on Wednesday, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed their belief that a public option insurance plan would create competition in the marketplace and would lower healthcare costs for Americans.

Liberal Democrats, like Brown and Schumer, who support the public option have argued that the plan would help small businesses stay in business and provide health insurance for their employees.

Said Schumer, “Small businesses want to provide the coverage. They know it’s good for their workers, good for morale and good for keeping. They just can’t afford [health insurance] any longer and that’s why we need a public option.”

Brown argued that,“the public option will not use pre-existing conditions, [it] won’t discriminate against women who have had c-sections or women who have been victims of domestic violence and call that a pre-existing condition.”

“We are changing the rules, we are also going to have the public option there to help those small businesses to compete to keep prices down,” he added.