It's all about this country's deficit: The public option in the context of today's projected deficit & how it will affect voting by moderate Democrats

Forget what you read about that, according to a new poll, the majority of Americans now support a government-run health care plan, a/k/a a public option, to compete with private insurers (see article in The Washington Post dated 10-20-09 discussing a new Washington Post-ABC News poll).

Why? As noted in a 10-17-09 post entitled "Help! I can't even comprehend such numbers: Deficit of $1.4 Trillion Limits Democrats," the public is increasingly focused on and concerned about the biggest budget deficit since World War II.

And this does not even factor in that President Obama may yet decide to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

From today's New York Times:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi stepped up the pressure on House Democrats on Friday to support her preferred version of legislation that would require the federal government to sell health insurance in competition with private insurers.

Her action came amid indications that Ms. Pelosi had not locked down the votes for the proposal, the most contentious element in a bill that would provide health insurance to more than 35 million people, at cost of nearly $900 billion over 10 years.

Other provisions of the bill, including enhanced Medicare benefits, could take the total cost over $1 trillion, Democrats said. But they promised to offset the cost and avoid any increase in federal budget deficits.

At this time many progressives in the party say to heck with the deficit and full steam ahead with a Medicare-like public option. But when they have to vote, the moderate-to-conservative Democrats will have their minds on the deficit and the 2010 election if they don't address it in voting on almost all matters.
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Also see an article in today's Washington Post noting that Democratic leaders in the Senate and House have concluded that a government-run insurance plan is the cheapest way to expand health coverage, and they sought Friday to rally support for the idea, prospects for which have gone in a few short weeks from bleak to bright.
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And as a Sunday update, see David Broder in The Washington Post writing:

Reid's solution: Pass the "doc fix" as separate legislation and get it out of the way before the health bills hit the floor.

This is exactly the kind of sleight of hand that Congress routinely performs to conceal spending that has contributed to the record $1.4 trillion deficit for this past year. It's not limited to Democrats. When Republicans were in control for eight years, they refused to raise taxes to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq or the costs of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. And they did not have the excuse of facing the worst economic slump since the Great Depression.

But this year the public has finally grown alarmed about the debt being passed on to our children and grandchildren.