Pennsylvania Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey have been vocal supporters of a public option in any health care reform plan, and now that idea is back on the table.

Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Jared Polis (D-Colorado) have suggested to the Democratic leadership that the House pass the Senate bill in its current form, as well as a so-called "fix-it" bill that only addresses provisions with a financial impact. The public option could be part of the "fix-it" bill.

Polis points out that the popularity of health reform bills began to slide when the public option was taken out.

"That's when all this talk of new taxes came in, along with all these other things that aren't only unpopular, but are bad policy in a recession."

Some lawmakers fear a public option would be too costly to taxpayers and unfair to insurance companies, but a December Reuters poll found public support is running at about 60 percent for the public option idea. Congressman Polis calls it an important part of keeping overall costs down and giving people more choices.

"It's a critical component of reform because, when you talk about any kind of mandate, people want to make sure you're not forcing them to go to the very insurance companies that have been bilking them all these years."

Under a process called reconciliation, such a bill would only require 51 votes to pass the Senate. Some moderate Democrats have said they oppose passing health reform through reconciliation, but Polis says the 51 votes necessary to get the job done, are there.

Tom Joseph, Public News Service - PA