White House shoots down Sebelius Trial Balloon

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius this weekend singaled that the Obama Administration was looking for a way out of the ObamaCare debacle by retreating from the "public option".

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius signaled on Sunday a willingness from the White House to embrace insurance cooperatives as the main plank of health-care reform rather than pushing for a public option in the final version of legislation being debated in Washington and throughout town halls across America.

Given the immediate reaction from single-payer supporters on the left who know that the "public option" is the first crucual step to government run health care, it didn't take long for the Administration to backtrack.

An administration official said tonight that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "misspoke" when she told CNN this morning that a government run health insurance option "is not an essential part" of reform. This official asked not to be identified in exchange for providing clarity about the intentions of the President. The official said that the White House did not intend to change its messaging and that Sebelius simply meant to echo the president, who has acknowledged that the public option is a tough sell in the Senate and is, at the same time, a must-pass for House Democrats, and is not, in the president's view, the most important element of the reform package.