This Just In: Privately, Obama Backs Public Option

From the Chicago Tribune. Like we couldn't figure this one out on our own!

"Despite months of seeming ambivalence about creating a government health insurance plan, the Obama White House has launched an intensifying behind-the-scenes campaign to get divided Senate Democrats to take up some version of the idea in the weeks just ahead.

President Barack Obama has long advocated a so-called public option, while at the same time repeatedly expressing openness to other ways to offer consumers a potentially more affordable alternative to health plans sold by private insurers.

But now, senior administration officials are holding private meetings almost daily at the Capitol with senior Democratic staff to discuss ways to include a version of the public plan in the health care bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring to the Senate floor later this month, according to senior Democratic congressional aides."

If you'd like to get an idea of how much more you'd be paying for health insurance under any of the proposed plans, go to the Subsidy Calculator, fill out the form, but answer "NO" to the employer-sponsored insurance question (whether or not you get insurance at work). I did it, and found I'd be paying $1000-$1500 more per year under any of the proposed government health plans--I guess that's supposed to be "my" contribution for keeping the feeble and nutritional heathens alive.

I'd rather pre-pay my mortgage principal every month with that money. Some people could use that money toward their debt. But nooo...Congress needs money, and FAST!

My brain tells me that this "tax" (because that's what it is--a 12.5% to 18% tax on the total cost of my current policy) would go to earmark spending, campaign contributions, or anything else besides the national debt. When this new tax is combined with the rationing of care, the government is going to be raking in some bucks!