Reid: Health Care Bill Includes Public Option with an 'Opt Out' Provision
Reid says he’s moving forward with a Senate bill that has a public option with an opt-out in it "with the support of the White House, and Senators Dodd and Baucus." He says that the Senate bill will also have co-ops included - which confuses me a bit. My hope is that he is not considering the co-ops a public option. And of course, just who will be allowed to participate in the Public Option is still fuzzy. So while we don't know just what the Public Option will look like, the best news is that we don't have the "trigger" deeply disappointing Olympia Snowe.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Fueling the push for a new government insurance plan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today that his chamber's healthcare bill would include a compromise that would create a nationwide public option but give states the right to opt out.
"The public option is not a silver bullet, [but] I believe it's an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients with the insurance industry," Reid said. "Under this concept, states will be able to decide what works for them."
Reid sent the proposal to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to be analyzed today, a key step before he can bring a bill to the floor for debate.
His decision does not settle the debate roiling Democratic ranks over how to create a government plan that would give consumers who don't get coverage through their employers an alternative to plans offered by commercial insurers.
The "opt-out" compromise is still two votes shy of the 60 Reid needs to overcome a Republican filibuster, according to a senior Democratic aide on Capitol Hill who requested anonymity when discussing the plan.
Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- San Francisco) are advancing separate healthcare bills in the Senate and House, which would have to be reconciled later this year before they are sent to the White House for President Obama's signature.
But Pelosi indicated Friday that the opt-out alternative could be included in a reconciled bill.
For now, House Democrats are poised to pass a bill that would create a nationwide government plan, although there is still disagreement about how much such a plan should pay doctors, hospitals and other medical providers.
Liberals, including Pelosi, favor a proposal that would link those payments to the existing Medicare program, which often pays providers less than commercial insurers. Proponents believe such an arrangement would save money and help drive down costs.
But many conservative Democrats, particularly from rural areas where Medicare typically pays less, want the government plan to negotiate its rates with providers, as commercial insurers do.
Pelosi hopes to settle those differences in time to unveil a bill later this week, according to her office.
