In the Plum Line in The Washington Post, George Zornick has an article titled: "Should Democrats press the public option?"
Zornick notes that the negative polling data about the Affordable Care Act does not mean that the public supports the Republican position of "repeal and replace." He notes:
But conservatives toasting the apparent turn in public opinion ought to look a little closer at the polling data. It’s true that only 35 percent of Americans favor the law, while 43 percent oppose it. But there’s a crucial third group: 15 percent oppose the ACA because it’s “not liberal enough.” That means that 50 percent of Americans either support the law or want policy changes that shift leftward.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
He then notes that a leftward shift could be the public option. And while he doubts that President Obama will revisit this issue, he does note that we have a Presidential election coming up in 2016. He then asks:
Imagine a candidate who comes out early, and strong, for adding a public option to the ACA exchanges. It could become a signature issue with the liberal grass roots during the primaries, and it wouldn’t be a bad general election issue either — the polls in 2010 showed support for a public option among Republicans and independents as well as Democrats. As Ezra Klein has noted, the sudden disappearance of the public option from Democratic politics has been “a bit curious,” but perhaps its day is coming.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
I thought that Democrats were too quick to give up on the public option when the ACA was passed. Giving up the public option certainly didn't earn them Republican votes.
And unless the ACA works perfectly, we are likely to have a debate in the 2016 Presidential Election about what can be done to improve health care. It is certainly not in the interest of the Democratic Party to let the public believe that there are only two options for health insurance going forward--leaving the ACA as is, or adopting the Republican "repeal and replace." And presenting the public option as a way to improve the ACA would give those voters who are not happy with the ACA a reason to vote for the Democrats. Zornick notes:
A public option would save $100 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and could offer respite from the plan cancellations and rate hikes that still persist with private insurers with the ACA in place.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...