1.  Senate Finance Committee Kills Public Option

In a 15-8 vote, the Senate finance committee elected to reject a plan that would have introduced a public option in health care reform. Democratic Sens. Max Baucus, Blanche Lincoln, Bill Nelson, and Thomas Carper joined the Republicans in defeating the so-called Rockefeller public option plan, which would have been regulated like a private plan. There are two more plans currently facing the committee: one that would sustain itself through premiums, another that would use premiums but also establish a reserve fund, although both are expected to fail. Another emergency backup is Snowe's "safety net fallback plan," which would make health care available to up to 95 percent of a state's residents through a government-run nonprofit. Today's vote is significant because the finance committee is considered "a microcosm of the full Senate—as in, leans moderate to conservative with a few liberals thrown in." Today's vote, Politics Daily’s Jill Lawrence says, does not augur well for the public option's chances in the Senate.

Read original story in The New York Times | Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009