Foster says Obama speech opens door for public option compromise

President Barack Obama's health care speech Wednesday opened a window for compromise on health care reform without watering down the notion that a public option must be part of the reform package, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster said Thursday.

The Democrat from the 14th Congressional District said the vast majority of Congress agrees on several of the basic ideas in Obama's speech. Those building blocks are the desire to eliminate pre-existing conditions as a method of disqualifying people from coverage, ending lifetime limits on insurance benefits, and a push to legally require everyone to have health care insurance (just like all Illinois drivers must have car insurance).

Foster said the key aspect in play is the disagreement over the inclusion of a public option. Foster is a supporter of some form of a public option, but only if it doesn't turn out to be black hole for taxes.

"You have to make sure that the public option can stand by itself," Foster said. He added that a public option may be the only solution for parts of the county where there truly is no competition in the private health insurance market.

"A public option survives and gains customers only if it provides customers more effective benefits than the private companies," Foster said. And a public option is only attractive to health care providers if it maintains its ability to pay hospitals in full and on time, Foster added.

That said, a public option might not be the right fit everywhere.

"Personally, I'm comfortable if a compromise was struck at letting states decide if they need a public option or not," Foster said. "If some states try it, and it works, then other states will go to it."

As far as the taxpayer cost of a public option, Foster said $900 billion sounds like the right number, but you must factor in what already is being spent.

"There's this very important observation that the average family in Illinois that gets its own private insurance pays an extra $1,200 a year because of people who aren't covered by insurance who just show up at the emergency room now. So a lot of the money, we're already paying it now."

Foster said he's not in favor of taxing employer-based plans to find the money for reform. Such a plan would generate the revenue, but also represent an increase in taxes for the middle class, he said.

A better method, Foster said, is returning income tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans (those who earn more than $270,000 a year), back to where they were in the 1990s.

"The economy seems to have done very well in the 1990s," Foster said. "And I can tell you, I will personally be paying those rates."

The side drama with Obama's speech this week revolved around whether or not his plan would result in health care funding for illegal immigrants. Foster said anyone who thinks that's true hasn't really looked at the plan.

"I think it says as clearly as you can say in English that no insurance will be provided for illegal aliens," Foster said.