Cantwell hints she might back Obama's public health plan

Sen. Maria Cantwell on Tuesday made her strongest statement to date supporting President Obama's idea to create a national public-health plan, but said she hasn't decided exactly which option she'll vote for.

Cantwell, the most prominent member of Washington's congressional delegation who until now had not voiced wholehearted support for the public-plan option, was in Seattle as part of her statewide health-care reform "listening tour."

Cantwell drew applause when she said health-care reform should include a public-plan option. But she later explained that she's not wedded to a particular framework, except to one that works. Cantwell said she could support either a federally run health plan or a nonprofit co-op plan.

Cantwell serves on the Senate finance committee, whose chairman, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), has emerged as a potentially pivotal figure in shaping any health-reform legislation.

Some consumer-advocacy groups have declared a federal health plan a nonnegotiable part of any comprehensive health reform.

Heath Care for America Now, a national grass-roots campaign that claims a half-million members in the state and more than 33 million nationwide, spent $225,000 for 10 days of TV ads in Washington last month to urge people to contact their senators.

Sen. Patty Murray has publicly endorsed a public-plan option, as have Reps. Jim McDermott, Norm Dicks and Jay Inslee, and several other key Democrats.

On Tuesday, Cantwell led a discussion by a dozen people, including executives from Premera Blue Cross and Regence BlueShield and Gov. Chris Gregoire, on the essential features of reform. An overflow crowd of more than 130 people attended the meeting at UW Medicine's South Lake Union campus.

Those in the audience gave even bigger applause to Dr. Don Mitchell, chair of the Western Washington chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, which favors abolishing for-profit insurers — something that would be allowed under a public plan.

Washington Community Action Network, one of the groups that had been pressuring Cantwell to become more vocal in her support of a public plan, commended her on her new statement. But Joshua Welter, the group's lead organizer on health-care issues, previously rejected a co-op model of a public plan as an unacceptable alternative to a federally managed plan.

Kyung Song: 206-464-2423 or ksong@seattletimes.com

The information in this article, originally published July 1, 2009, was corrected July 1, 2009. The story about a health-care forum led by Sen. Maria Cantwell gave an incorrect membership for Health Care for America Now. The organization has more than 650,000 members in Washington and 33 million nationally.