Senator Risch Participates in Medicare, But Against the Public Option

The junior senator from Idaho is the thirteenth (13th) richest in Congress, enjoys some fine federal benefits, including health care insurance, AND collects his medicare benefits. Medicare is a government-funded; government-administered single-payer health care system. This type of system is not being proposed in the current health care reform debate to cover the uninsured and is decried by Republicans as "socialism". Yet despite his participation in "socialism", Risch remains adamantly opposed to "to government-run health care" which includes opposition to the public option, a government sponsored insurance policy the participation in which is completely voluntary. To gain his support, "any proposed health care bill must control costs while at the same time protect patients." According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the public option will reduce the deficit and come in under Obama's ceiling of $900 billion. In addition, the public option is popular everywhere. And if Medicare is good enough to protect the senator then such a government program should be good enough to protect the rest of us, particularly those 47 million who lack any insurance at all and are costing government billions already.