On the progressive and moderate sides there are about 100 congressional dem reps each backing opposing "principles" for health care reform.

The progressive group, made up of the Progressive, Black, Hispanic and Asian-Pacific Islander caucuses, supports a public option that is immediately available.

The conservative group,  consisting of the bluedog caucus and the New Democrat coalition, which some characterize as moderate, supports a public option that only kicks in if certain criteria are met. This is the same option that Republicans are pushing for.

In the senate, about 20 dems-- the more liberal, primarily-- are supporting for the full public option available immediately.

The Hill reports, "Liberals may hold the chairmanships of the key committees, but centrist Democrats are a force to be reckoned with in the lower chamber. The Blue Dogs and New Democrats combined make up a bloc of 103 votes."

Providing a bit more detail on the differences between the progressives and the "moderates," AP reports,

•  The progressives say the public plan must cover all comers and must not be conditioned on private industry actions. The Blue Dogs say the public option "must adhere to the same rules and regulations as all other plans."

•  The Blue Dogs say the public plan should occur only as a fallback, triggered if private insurers aren't doing a good enough job on access and costs. The progressives say "we oppose any conditions or triggers undermining and limiting the availability of the public option."

•  The progressives say the public plan must be an entity operated by the federal government that "bears the risk for paying medical claims to keep administrative costs low." The Blue Dogs say claims must be covered by premiums and copayments without relying on the federal treasury.

Today, Saturday, thousands of Obama meetups will be held to discuss healthcare and mobilize supporters. This reporter has been to at least 5 health care discussions or townhalls. At each of them, single payer has received almost unanimous support, with full public option the distant fallback position. Yet single payer advocated are not excluded from the discussions being held by senate finance committee chair Max Baucus, and even among the progressives, single-payer is apparently not on the table, though progressive congressman John Conyers has HR 676 supporting single payer.

The question must be raised. Is Max Baucus simply representing the interests of moderate and conservative Democrats, or is he playing bad cop, in a good cop bad cop game, fronting for many more democratic senators afraid to admit they are protecting the health insurance industry.

At the progressive Our Future Now meeting, Ed Schultz reported that everywhere he goes, the only thing people want is single payer health care. "Where are all the supporters for these other options?" he asked to a crowd of about 100 members of the progressive media and blogosphere.

The future of healthcare for at least a decade will probably be decided in the next two months. So far, it looks like conservative/moderate democrats will be keeping America and Americans hooked on a private health insurance system that people and the American economy can ill afford.

Author's Bio:

Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and site architect of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com

He is a frequent Speaker on the bottom up revolution, politics, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.

To learn more about me and OpEdNews.com, check out this article.

and there are Rob's quotes, here. To Watch me on youtube, having a lively conversation with John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here Now, wouldn't you like to see me on the political news shows, representing progressives. If so, tell your favorite shows to bring me on and refer them to this youtube video

My radio show, The Rob Kall Show, runs 9-10 PM EST Wednesday evenings, on AM 1360, WNJC and is archived on www.whiterosesociety.org Or listen to it streaming, live at either www.wnjc1360.com or here.

Or check the archived interviews at: whiterosesociety.org

Follow me on Twitter

A few declarations. -While I'm registered as a Democrat, I consider myself to be a dynamic critic of the Democratic party, just as, well, not quite as much, but almost as much as I am a critic of republicans. -My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.

Recent press coverage in the Wall Street Journal: Party's Left Pushes for a Seat at the Table

www.opednews.com/articles/Progressive-and-Bluedog-Ca-by-Rob-Kall-090606-576.html