Health Care For America Now

As Health Care for America Now's report on affordability issues in the health system shows, Americans in every state face exploding health care costs. That's one reason why strong majorities of Americans, in poll after poll, say they want a strong public option.

Americans all over the country are speaking out, but the past week has seen major pressure on elected officials from out West. Reform advocates demonstrated in Las Vegas this weekend. Last week, California Senator Dianne Feinstein faced strong pushback from grassroots groups in response to her skepticism that the Senate will support a public option.

The Western state where grassroots pressure is most likely to move a skeptical Democrat, though, is Washington. A local outlet, The Columbian, says Washington's congressional delegation "has muscle to flex over health care":

Washington's top elected officials — Gov. Chris Gregoire and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell — have key roles in the national debate.

Gregoire was among five governors who met with President Obama Wednesday to discuss the states' perspective on health care reform. She said later that she advocated "a hard look" at a government-run plan, but suggested that it could be run by the individual states — with the federal government footing the bill.

Cantwell and Murray serve on the two committees that are writing the Senate bill. Both will be in the state this week to talk health care with constituents.

Though Rep. Brian Baird does not serve on any House health care committee, he has a long-standing interest in the issue. In 2007, he introduced legislation that would de-link health coverage from employment and provide private health insurance coverage for every uninsured American.

All have offered measured support for creation of a government-run "public option" that would compete with private insurance plans, by far the most contentious issue in the health care debate.

Both Cantwell and Baird have come under fire from advocates of a public option for failing to take a stronger stand.

One example of the fire directed at Sen. Cantwell by Washingtonians is this piece in Seattle's The Stranger, bluntly titled "What's Up with Maria Cantwell?" Author Eli Sanders writes,

Seattle congressman Jim McDermott supports it. Washington senator Patty Murray wants it. So does President Barack Obama. So does the often conservative Seattle Times editorial page. So do 72 percent of Americans, according to a recent poll. So what's going on with Washington's junior senator, Maria Cantwell? Why doesn't she want Congress to include a public option—a new government-run health-care plan that will be available to everyone and will compete with private insurance companies to bring down costs—in its health-care-reform package?

"I don't think that's something we can get through the United States Senate," Cantwell told KUOW on June 22. It's an odd bit of circular logic: Because Cantwell can't yet count enough votes to pass the public option, she won't add her vote in favor of the public option—which, of course, makes it even harder to find enough votes to pass the public option.

Sanders goes on to share his frustration - and the frustration of a Washington small business owner he interviewed - at Cantwell's lack of clarity on her positions regarding a public plan or various proposed compromises.

For one more Washingtonian voice on health reform, I looked up the Seattle Times editorial that Sanders references. This line stood out to me:

After so many false starts and clever ads from opponents of health-care reform, the public is serious about change. Politicians notice.

Judging from the diversity and seriousness of the voices in Washington pushing for meaningful reform, if Cantwell hasn't yet noticed the hunger Washingtonians have for real change then she will soon. With nearly three-quarters of a million people in Washington uninsured, nearly one in ten unemployed, and health premiums rising over five times faster than median earnings in the state, it's clear Cantwell's constituents are suffering under the current system. With Murray and others in Washington's delegation on board for real reform, it's also clear that Cantwell will have plenty of company if she joins the ranks of reformers. Here's hoping she'll put a finger to the wind and feel the change that's taking place in Washington, in the West, and across the entire United States.