The title of a recently released Yahoo! article is "Another GOP senator open to health care overhaul". However, encouraging as this is, "open to" is not equivalent to "yes" or "no", but "maybe". In other words, this does not signify agreement.

The first few sentences are critical: "A second Republican senator on Wednesday signalled she's open to voting for sweeping health care legislation, putting President Barack Obama closer to a historic achievement that has eluded generations of democratic leaders". Everything that the president has done or is going to do seems to have "historic" implications and this ratchets up the pressure on him and Sen. Collins because she is the latest GOP senator in the spotlight after Sen. Snowe. "But Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told the Associated Press that the bill approved Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee NEEDS SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT TO MAKE COVERAGE MORE AFFORDABLE, CONTAIN COSTS (a traditional Republican concern/complaint/gripe) and PROTECT MEDICARE (part of the status quo of 100% private health insurance)".

Specfifically, Sen. Collins said: "MY HOPE IS that we can fix the flaws in the bill and COME TOGETHER WITH A TRULY BIPARTISAN BILL THAT COULD GARNER WIDESPREAD SUPPORT". This sounds optimistic, but "hope" and "could" suggest that she has at least SOME doubts. "I think (that) this bill is far superior to the one passed by the Senate (Health) Committee and the three House committees BUT IT NEEDS SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONAL WORK".  It isn't that hard to decode what Sen. Snowe is saying: the health care overhaul proposal "needs more work".

However, like her Republican colleagues, Collins is wary or perhaps even a bit skeptical about THE PUBLIC OPTION, which, we must admit, has been a MAJOR sticking point thus far. As far as this is concerned, she said "I think (that) THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE A DISPROPORTIONATE ADVANTAGE" if there was a public insurance mandate. Wow, this is huge because IF SEN. COLLINS DOESN'T THE PUBLIC OPTION IDEA, SHE MAY NOT SUPPORT THE OVERHAUL AT ALL. However, Sen. Collins probably figured that some of us would be alarmed by her rhetoric so she proposed that a government-run health insurance plan could "kick in" if insurance companies end up being grossly negligent (some insurance are/have been) as a "trigger option". Above all,  "I want to make sure (that)  THE INSURANCE COMPANIES PERFORM AND THAT'S WHY WE ELIMINATE MANY EGREGIOUS (i.e. outrageous) PRACTICES". Well, we can only hope that insurance companies "egregious practices" are a thing of the past.

So, will Sen. Collins jump on the universal health care bandwagon? This is very iffy, as a lot of Collins' comments were conditional.  One thing is for sure, however: the votes of Sen. Snowe and Sen. Collins MAY WELL BE the votes that make or break this health care overhaul legislation/proposal because they are the only ones who have made some concessions and even had the courage to break ranks with their GOP colleagues. Other Republicans seem to be VERY skeptical.

The Senate Finance Committee approved the overhaul 14-9, a NEAR party-line vote once again. Almost 9 months into his presidential tenure, President Obama is still juggling the idea of whether he should continue trying to woo Republicans or stay close to his Democratic base.