Franken touts public option at health care rally in St. Paul

Hundreds of people rallied Sunday in support of passing comprehensive health care overhaul legislation.

The rally at union hall in Minneapolis was designed to coincide with President Obama's televised health care summit scheduled for later this week. Business owner Diane Brennan, who owns a hair salon in St. Paul, said the cost of health insurance is making it tough for small business owners to compete.

"I support a public option it just seems like the government is already in the business with Medicare, with [the] Veterans Administration," Brennan said. "The system is already there and those systems can be improved a little bit and then to add the general public on to that. I just don't see that that is that big of a deal."

At the rally, DFL Sen. Al Franken said passing a version of health care reform now is better than starting over from scratch on a new bill.

Franken told hundreds of people in the audience that passing a version of health care reform now is better than starting over from scratch on a new bill.

"I don't want to oversell this, I don't want to say that your premiums after going up and up and up are suddenly going to go down but if we don't do anything its going to go that way and what we need to do is bend it this way to bring down the growth in the cost of health care," Franken said.

Franken says the current bills being considered on Capitol Hill contain measures that would prevent discrimination against people with preexisting health conditions.

Many Republicans, including those in Minnesota's congressional delegation, say the president should start over and craft a plan with ideas agreed on by both parties.

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