Schumer Predicts Dems Will Have the Votes on Health Care Reform

New York Sen. Charles Schumer said today "that we're very close to getting the 60 votes" Democrats need to move forward with a health care reform bill and he believes that the final legislation will include some form of the public option.

Schumer said on NBC's Meet the Press that he and Majority Leader Harry Reid have been talking to Democratic senators across the ideological spectrum about a public option plan that would allow states to "opt out."

Schumer said the plan differed from what liberal Democrats were pushing for because they wanted a "much more government-oriented program" that imposed rates for providers based on Medicare rates. He said that under his proposal, the new entity would operate on a "level playing field" because it would have to negotiate rates like private insurers.

He said the government would set-up the public plan but after three months, it would "have to play by the same rules" as private insurers as far as requirements and then pay back the start-up money back over the course of several years. But he insisted that the only way to bring health costs down was to provide competition to private insurers because they would not do it on their own.

"My guess is that public option level playing field with state op-out will be in the bill," Schumer said, adding that Reid will make that decision after he talks to everybody "several times."

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona agreed with Schumer on the political outlook. "I think that the Democrats have the votes. I think that Blue Dogs bark but never bite. So I don't think they have a problem over in the House side," he said on CBS' Face the Nation. The House legislation includes a public option.

"In the Senate, I think that the Democrats are very aware that they don't want a repeat of the Clinton failure in 1994," said McCain. "So I think it's likely they will get something through. But it's not clear to me what it is."

But McCain accused President Obama of reneging on his campaign process to make the shaping of the bill transparent and to include Republicans. "The fact is there's been no change. There's a room with a few Democrats in it and some administration officials. And they are writing this entire bill. I don't think the American people like that very much."