Why is Dianne Feinstein Really Poo-Pooing Obama's Public Option?

Posted by Byard Duncan at 4:27 AM on July 1, 2009.

After telling CNN on June 22 that she didn't think Barack Obama "has the votes right now" to pass a public option plan, Sen. Dianne Feinstein caught some pointed criticism from health care advocates.

Richard Kirsch, Health Care For America Now's national campaign manager, told Talking Points Memo that "Senator Feinstein should know better than anyone given the state of the economy in California that health care reform cannot wait." MoveOn.org reacted similarly, airing an advertisement that told Feinstein Californians "don't expect her to lead just on the easy issues."

Feinstein had a chance Sunday to answer these criticisms. "I do not think this is helpful," She told the Washington Post. "It doesn't move me one whit. [Democrats] are spending a lot of money on something that is not productive."

She could be right. After all, Feinstein, whose net worth falls somewhere between $52 million and $116 million and makes her the sixth highest paid senator in the United States, could teach us all a little something about thrift.

And speaking of thrift, let's not forget the $133,150 Feinstein accepted in campaign contributions from "health professionals" since 2005. Or the $75,250 she got from the "pharmaceutical/health product" industry during that time.

Still, what's perhaps most perplexing is the fact that the health care Feinstein and other senators receive under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program is structured in a way that's remarkably similar to Obama's public plan. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, "federal employees, retirees and their survivors enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country." They are able to choose from among "Consumer-Driven and High Deductible plans that offer catastrophic risk protection with higher deductibles, health savings/reimbursable accounts and lower premiums, or Fee-for-Service (FFS) plans, and their Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO), or Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) if you live (or sometimes if you work) within the area serviced by the plan."

Look familiar?

Meanwhile, the 47 million Americans without health care -- along with the 85 percent who agree we need a radical change -- continue to bite their fingernails as Feinstein poo-poos a public option.

Let's hope they don't bite too hard, lest they require some absurdly expensive medical attention.

Tagged as: democrats, senate, obama, health care, feinstein, senators, federal employees health