Is Barack Backing Down on Healthcare Reform?

President Barack Obama has been very vocal about his plans for health care reform ever since he took office and in January and the battle to get them passed has become a heated one over the course of the last few weeks. Now it seems that Obama may be willing to drop one of the more controversial aspects of his plan - the public insurance option - to ensure that the rest of his reforms go through.

The "public option" a program that many envisioned as somewhat similar to the Medicare system that is already in place for seniors, has always been an important part of Obama's health care reform plans but it has also been the flash point for anger, opposition and rumor.

The first sign that the President may be willing to back away from the public health care option came when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNN that the public option was "not an essential element" of the President's overhaul plans and that they may consider the idea of a nonprofit health insurance co-op instead, an idea that has been around in the Senate for weeks.

The shift was also confirmed by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs who said the "bottom line" for Mr. Obama was competition and choice.

To back track know may prove to be a significant setback for the president. He campaigned on the issue, gaining votes from the uninsured that saw him as their potential savior. Originally he made the issue a corner stone of his domestic policy and if he does take the public option of the table he may have to face losing the support of several liberal democrats, whose votes and support he does need to get his reforms passed.

On Sunday Senator Jay Rockerfeller spoke of his personal belief in the public option “I believe the inclusion of a strong public plan option in health reform legislation is a must,’’ he said in a statement. “It is the only proven way to guarantee that all consumers have affordable, meaningful, and accountable options available in the health insurance marketplace.’

Former Democratic Party Chairman and one time Presidential candidate Howard Dean argued during an appearance on the Today show that without the public option there will be no real health care reform at all."You can't really do health care reform without it." he told the television audience.