Olympia Snowe - the real maverick in the GOP

Forget about Sarah Palin. We have a woman in the Republican party who is more independent and principled than Palin.

What do you think of Snowe giving the green light to proceed with a health care agenda that includes a government-run public option? In my opinion, a public option competing with the private insurance sector may be necessary to force them to lower their premiums, or make healthcare more affordable by providing another alternative to people who normally can’t afford private insurance.

Instead of imposing a mandated public option for all states, the bill would give states leeway in deciding whether to include the public option.

Predictably, Republicans in Congress are thinking of denying Snowe a future seat on the Senate Commerce Committee as punishment for her voting yes to allow the health care bill to proceed to the Senate floor.

It seems that Snowe has nothing to lose politically in her home state of Maine for breaking ranks with the Republicans. Maine is a fiercely independent state. The other Republican senator from Maine, Susan Collins, has said she may also vote for a bill that includes the public option.

Snowe has accumulated a lot of power and prestige by breaking ranks with the Republican party, and putting the needs of the country first over the needs of the party.

I have no idea, seeing as how that didn’t happen. She voted for the Senate Finance Committee version, which does not include a public option.

I stand corrected. You’re right. The version she voted for does not include a public option after all.

At least she is open to a public option trigger that activates when the private sector fails to provide competition to bring costs down. She opposes government-run health care, but would support a public option, one that states can opt out of, if the insurance industry fails to perform to mandated standards. Since the insurance industry genuinely cares more about earning profits and increasing their bottom line, over the health and well-being of the insured, her stance toward the health care agenda is quite nuanced.

Yes, but that seems overly and pointlessly complex to me. The CBO estimates that only about 5% of the American people would choose the public option, and yet Republicans are going nuts over it and coming up with all kinds of complicated ways to skirt around it.