House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s role in the debate on healthcare reform has been one of unmistakable inevitability; that is, she was either going to get the bill through with the public option, or die trying. Well, she’s alive and well today — which is more than anyone can say about her commitment to Obama’s crystal clear vision of healthcare reform. If one needed a reason to doubt the stability of public option language in the reform bill, he/she has it today. And all he/she needed to do was hear it from Pelosi’s lips:

The president has said, we believe, the House believes that the public option is the best way to hold the insurance companies honest, keep them honest and also to increase competition. If you have a better way, put it on the table. When we see something from the Senate, we’ll be able to make a judgment about that.”

That something is probably the 55-65 Medicare buy-in.

There is certainly a great deal of appeal about putting people 55 and older on medicare. That’s something people in the House have advocated for years.”

To say that she’s happy about this development would be an understatement. This raises the question for progressive Democrats: are you going to settle, or up the ante? | LINK via TPM

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