"I'm here because I've traveled through the health care system and there are some holes," said Falco, who played a nurse on popular sitcom The Sopranos. Her experience with breast cancer during her acting career lead her to "care about the people in this country" when it came to health issues.

AFSCME Legislative Director Chuck Loveless said the government plan option was essential to bringing down the overall cost of health insurance, just as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its official estimate of the cost of health insurance at $1 trillion over 10 years.

“It’s extremely important that insurance companies have to compete with a government plan option. And if the government plan option is not in he mix, we’re not gonna get the kind of reform that we want to see," said Loveless.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) also expressed optimism at the possibility of the plan bringing down costs, though he did not specify how the $1 trillion would be paid for.

Perhaps the new option of taxing non-union health benefits is one way the money might be found.