Public Option Quotes

I think that if you have a single payer system and an opt-out for people who want to pay more [for better service, etc.], I think it would be better - and I think we'll eventually get there. It wouldn't be better at the top - [our current system] is the best in the world at the top. But the waste in the present system is awesome and we do get some very perverse incentives.

I do not support a single-payer system; I do support having something there, whether it's an option or not. And we can work with that, but we have to have something to leverage so we can get the insurance company to bring down their prices, and the only way to do that is to have an alternative there.

All Democrats from Bernie to Biden will eliminate private insurance either outright or as a consequence of the public option crowding out private insurance.

People do not want that public option.

... socialized medicine by the back door.

A public option is essential to creating the cost-savings necessary to offset the cost of providing all Americans access to affordable health care.

I'm as deeply suspicious of big government as anyone. I'm strongly in favor of universal coverage but not single payer.

Because you want to have competition to drive down the price. You want innovation. You have the ability to get people to agree that it's worth having a public plan. You could get private insurers to cover this population, but you couldn't without giving the population leverage in the marketplace.

Let's drive the message home: we need health insurance reform, we need a strong public option, and we won't settle for less.

The President has been a big proponent of the public option since the campaign.

I have worked to expand the health care debate beyond the current for-profit system, to include a public option and an amendment to free the states to pursue single payer.

It is critical that we pass legislation to dramatically reform our health insurance system, and this reform should include a genuine public option, universal coverage, an end to insurance policy rescissions, and no restrictions against covering people with pre-existing conditions.

I would love to see public option. If we had public option, then people would have that ability to supplement that public option with an additional health plan.

We're the party that has fought for Medicare. We're the party that has fought for Social Security. The Republicans have tried to privatize Social Security and voucherize Medicare.

I am a Medicare-for-all public option proponent.

At the heart of President Barack Obama's health-care plan is an insurance program funded by taxpayers, administered by Washington, and open to everyone. Modeled on Medicare, this 'public option' will soon become the single dominant health plan, which is its political purpose. It will restructure the practice of medicine in the process.

I happen to be a conservative, but one need not accept the Right's theories wholesale to acknowledge the sometimes negative effects of government action on health care.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent allied with Democrats, has championed Medicare for All, which would give every American coverage through the federal health insurance program for seniors. Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow wants Medicare coverage for anyone over the age of 55.

No one will be forced to take the public option. The word option means choice.

I would not outlaw or eliminate private health insurance. But if we do a good enough job, with a robust public option, there really should not be as much of a need for private insurance in the market.

If ask 100 Arkansans about the phrase, 'the public option,' or 'a public option,' you'll get 100 different impressions about what that means.

Hillary Clinton wants to see that all Americans have the right to choose a public option in their health care exchange.

The thing with Elizabeth Warren that you have to keep in mind is she is very far left. I think a lot of folks who may have considered voting for someone like Joe Biden are going to be very turned off by ideas like universal health care, which would essentially force 200 million Americans off of private health insurance.

People on the Left really want a single-payer system. They really want - so even the Left doesn't want Obamacare. They want single payer, and we want a market-driven, patient-central system.

People do not want to be disillusioned by the new president [Barak Obama]. The liberals felt, finally, this is our time. Now they're worried. Now what they see is more business as usual. We all want to give him the benefit of the doubt, we know it's a tough job and he inherited a mess, but at the end of the day, is it really change we can believe in when there's no public options and Wall Street reform has no teeth in it? It really looks a lot like we just changed the color.