Jonathan Cohn of TNR had this "Exclusive" just three days ago:
A lot of conservative Democrats, not to mention Republicans, express two big concerns about health reform. They're worried that reform will cost too much. And they don't want a government-run insurance plan. It's about to get a lot harder to make those two arguments simultaneously. According to a pair of Capitol Hill sources, preliminary estimates from the Congressional Budget Office suggest that a strong public option--the kind that the House of Representatives is putting in its reform bill--should net somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 billion in savings over ten years. Meanwhile, Ezra Klein -- a supporter of the Democrats' plan -- has a whole list of caveats and reasons to discount the "least surprising revelation of the day."
Whoops, that turned out to be wrong.
Update: This is funny, from WSJ:
[CBO Director] Mr. Elmendorf went on to say that there is widespread support among health analysts for taxing health care benefits as a way to reduce federal outgoings on health care. Taxing individuals' health care benefits is extremely unpopular among many Democratic lawmakers.
Why are they rejecting single payer?
Single payer will save $350 billion annually* and could save 1,000's of lives... but who cares?
Single payer legislation (HR 676) will effectively make it crime to sell basic health insurance for profit.
The majority of Americans support single payer.
The majority of doctors support single payer.
