Public option

Clinton revives support for health care 'public option'

By Dan Diamond and Rachana Pradhan

Hillary Clinton wants to bring back the public option, offering a competing vision to Bernie Sanders’ support for a more progressive health care system.

Clinton's campaign has updated its website to note her continued support for the government-run health plan that was dropped from Obamacare during the law's drafting. The idea was popular among progressives who prefer a single-payer plan -- like the one Bernie Sanders is touting.

Clinton supported the public option in her 2008 presidential campaign, and during the drafting of the Affordable Care Act a year later, Congress debated allowing a government-run plan to compete with private insurers. However, the public option was eliminated from the legislation because of objections from moderate Senate Democrats who opposed a greater government role in providing health care.

But Clinton has hardly referenced her previous support for the idea during the 2016 campaign, and instead has called for building on President Barack Obama’s health care law.

A new version of Clinton’s campaign website suggests she won't try to push the public option through Congress, but instead will work with governors using existing flexibility under Obamacare "to empower states to establish a public option choice." That may be a reference to a waiver program taking effect in 2017 that lets states assert greater control over their health care systems.

It appears that the campaign updated its website's health care platform in the past week to note Clinton's support for the public option.

The Clinton campaign did not respond to requests for comment before this story first published. A spokesperson later told POLITICO that Clinton has supported the public option since the 2008 campaign.

Clinton has recently highlighted the failure to push through the public option as she's criticized Sanders for supporting a more liberal plan that is unlikely to be approved by Congress.