Grassley is not the only critic. On his website, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Republican Senate Leader, also had strong words. "After months of hearing that Americans don't want government-run health care, Democrat leaders in Washington have made their decision. They're going to include it in their health care bill, whether Americans want it or not. Supporters of the government-run plan say they're only advocating one more option among many. What they don't say is that the option they're advocating would soon be the only option. The others would fade away....Private health plans would fade away because a government-run plan would use the deep pockets of the federal government to set artificially low prices, or absorb a loss, making it impossible for private plans to compete. Private plans would either become so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford them, or they'd go out of business altogether." McConnell went on to say that in the current economy, this is the wrong time to have a bill that would cost over a trillion dollars.

This week Robert Gibbs, Presidential Press Secretary, did not have many specific comments on the President's take on the bill, but told reporters that the president is working to ensure the bill gets through. When asked if he thought there was enough support for the bill, Gibbs said that was a question for Senator Reid. Concerning the possibility that Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) might join Republicans on a filibuster, Gibbs stated, "I haven't seen the report from Senator Lieberman or why he's saying what he's saying. I think Democrats and Republicans alike will be held accountable by their constituents who want to see health care reform enacted this year. We see it in the polling that you guys do every day that they want the system, as it is now, to be fixed to ensure accessibility for those that don't have it, for cutting costs for those who do, and for important insurance reforms like preexisting conditions to be addressed. And we know that if that doesn't happen, people say they'll be very disappointed by that, and we think people will make progress to ensure that this gets done."


Finally, one such poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that public support for a public option has gained since last month. According to the poll, fifty-five percent of Americans believe that taking care of health reform now is more important than ever, while 41 percent say the country cannot afford it right now, similar to last month's poll. A little more than half those polled say the country will be better off if reform passes.

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