What is the public option?

The public option is a publicly-funded health insurance program, similar to Medicare. If it’s created, it would be available in every state in the country and ready to use right away. Most important, it would be a choice—and only a choice—for people who need insurance. And right now, there are 47 million people in America who don’t have health insurance.

A public health insurance option would:

• increase competition, something that our health care system badly needs
• lower costs, which is very important since millions of people can’t afford health insurance now
• keep the insurance companies honest

Who supports the public option?

Most experts, including 63% of doctors, agree that the public option is the best way to ensure that everyone has affordable health care. President Obama supports the public option, and has said that it “would help improve quality and bring down costs.” And opinion polls show that the public option is very popular with the American people.

Who opposes the public option?

Health care is a big business in this country. How big? About one-sixth of the entire U.S. economy—over $2 trillion annually. And in our political system, money is power. Insurance companies, drug companies, and their political allies see the public option as a threat to their record profits. And they’re doing everything they can to stop it, because they know a strong public option is the key to real health care reform.