House liberals 'waiting' on Senate health plan details

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is "waiting" to see how the Senate's healthcare compromise will work, its co-chairwoman said.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), the co-chairwoman of the 85-member bloc of House liberals, cast doubt on the new public healthcare plan being crafted by the Senate, but said her group is waiting to see how the details pan out.

"I can tell you that the Progressive Caucus -- and there's 85 members of the Progressive Caucus -- we are waiting not only to find out about competition; we want to know about affordability," Woolsey said Wednesday night during an appearance on MSNBC.

Amidst reports that Democratic senators have dropped the public option in exchange for some combination of expanded Medicare, access to federal employees' benefits programs, and a triggered public option, Woolsey said the options are unlikely to provide the type of competition liberals had hoped for with a full public plan.

"The only way we're going to be able to keep premiums down is to have competition against the private insurance industry," she said. "And from what I can see, they are offering nothing over in the Senate that will compete with private industry."

The California Democrat acknowledged, though, some splits among liberals, particularly Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who have both backed the Senate compromise.

"Both of those reports stunned me, but they must have their reasons.," she said.