Is the original Obama healthcare reform plan dead in the water? If you believe the last-minute motives of the Senate in altering the public-option component considerably at the pleasure of private interests, then you can probably form your own opinions at this point. According to the Washington Post today,

As his committee has taken center stage in the battle over health-care reform, Chairman Baucus (D-Mont.) has emerged as a leading recipient of Senate campaign contributions from the hospitals, insurers and other medical interest groups hoping to shape the legislation to their advantage. Health-related companies and their employees gave Baucus’s political committees nearly $1.5 million in 2007 and 2008, when he began holding hearings and making preparations for this year’s reform debate.

Reality comes full circle. Although overwhelming support among Americans in the original Obama plan and its public option provision provided the impetus behind the downplaying of the role of Insurance, Pharma, and Health Plans in drafting the ostensible language of the reform package; acknowledgment of the special intrerest minority by Baucus and other Democrats (and Republicans)  seems to be influencing things now. | LINK

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