Single payer is probably off the table, but a Public Health Care Option that competes with private health insurance companies is still definitely on the table. We would then have a mixed universal health care system similar to France and Germany as opposed to a single payer universal health care system like Canada or Britain's government run universal health care system.To achieve a universal health care system, the system requires everyone to have health insurance and realistically, that's not possible without government help for people.

Right now, the main sticking points in the health care debate according to Ezra Klein is the public option, employer pay or play as in how much employers will pay to the system if they don't offer insurance to workers, and financing the whole enterprise. Kennedy's HELP Committee health care plan has a robust public option while Baucus's Finance Committee health care plan is a bit vague on the public option.