Supporters of health care reform rally outside GOP headquarters

(NECN: Alison King, Boston, Mass.) – The battle over health care reform led protesters to the headquarters of the Massachusetts Republican Party today. The group called on the GOP to stop supporting giant insurance companies over working families. Dozens of members of the service employees international union marched outside the Massachusetts Republican Party headquarters calling on the GOP to end its orchestrated campaign to stand in the way of health care reform. Harris Gruman/SEIU: “Republican activists are showing up at town hall meetings and being told ‘be as disruptive as possible’.” Nick Connors: “The left has accused the Republicans of manufactured outrage and this is a great example of it outside.” Massachusetts Republican Party Executive Director Nick Connors says republicans support health care that controls cost and preserves quality. Nick Connors: “But the idea of a government run health care system is not something that has any widespread support across the country.” In fact, recent polls show more people disapprove of President Obama’s handling of health care. With republicans so far unwilling to blink on this so-called “public option” — President Obama and members of the administration are now showing signs they may be open to dropping that provision. Obama: The public option, whether we have it or we don’t have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it. Harris Gruman/SEIU: His talking about his willingness to reconsider that shows how much he wants to get the job done and how much the other side does not. That is the view of some democrats who are determined to pass some type of health care reform, soon. But there are other democratic leaders who say the public option is absolutely critical. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, a physician said Monday: “There are too many people who understand, including the President himself, the public option is absolutely linked to reform. You can’t have reform without a public option.” Senator Kent Conrad, a democrat from North Dakota is offering an alternative: Public cooperatives not run by the government. Proponents of the public option say the cooperatives would not go far enough to ensure true health reform.