From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Healthcare reform, competition, and the public option.

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

There's a rare consensus in Washington that this is the moment for health care reform if Congress

takes action before the end of this year. With protracted wrangling, the opportunity could be lost,

and debate has bogged down over a public plan to compete with private insurance. Would it help

maintain high quality at reduced cost?

Would it drive insurance companies out of the health care business? We'll look at the pros and cons

and at competing efforts to shape a winning message. What are the roles of ideology, media

manipulation, and money? On reporter's notebook later on, The Missing Governor, the Mistress, and the Republican Party.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Poet.

The debate over health care reform is coming down to the wire at the White House and Congress and in the media.

We'll look at the pros and cons of the so-called public option and at the influence of ideology and money.

On reporter's notebook, another politician betrays his wife.

Did Governor Mark Sanford also damage the

Republican Party? First, this news update. The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the rights of

students to be protected from unreasonable search in the case of a 13-year-old who was stripped

by school authorities in Arizona. Jess Braven covers the court for the Wall Street Journal,

...