Obama's Letter to Kennedy and Baucus

by: DocJess

Thu Jun 04, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM EDT

The president sent a letter to Senators Kennedy and Baucus as a follow-up to the health care meeting held at the White House. As Ben Smith wrote yesterday, regarding the wind-down to last year's primary:

On the central health care policy debate of the Democratic Primary -- which was, to be fair, conducted within a fairly narrow frame -- Obama appears to have conceded today to a Senate plan likely to more closely resemble Clinton's.

If you read the letter, you'll see that there is a public option, a mandate for coverage, (now called "shared responsibility") and an exclusion of denial of insurance for pre-existing conditions. 

It's not perfect, and it likely won't work, but it is a step in the right direction.