Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Monday that the health insurance reform legislation headed to the Senate floor will include a public option. He added that states will be able to opt out of the program if they choose.
Reid said that "The public option, with an opt-out, is the one that's fair." He added that his decision was supported by bothh the Obama Administration and by Senate Finance Commitee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who had previously said a public option was a non-starter.
Progressives see the public option as the only way to create genuine health insurance reform, as health insurance companies would be forced to reduce premiums to stay competitive. It is also seen as a possible stepping stone to universal health care.
All other industrialized nations have some form of universal health care. The United States also trails many nations with such care in terms of lifespan and infant mortality. Recent polls have shown that roughly six in 10 Americans want a public option, a plan that would compete with private insurance.
Additionally on Monday, Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO voiced his support for a so-called "Cadillac tax," a tax on high-end health insurance plans to help pay for the health care overhaul, as long as middle-class workers aren't hurt.
"If you show me a definition of a Cadillac plan that hits the Cadillac plans and not the middle class, then we'd take a look at that, of course," Trumka said while on a conference call. "If you wanted to tax the Goldman Sachs plans, I think that's fine."
Meanwhile, there is no doubt that the public option lives on in the House of Representatives. However, it may get a different name.
Nancy Pelosi says the term "public option" has been misrepresented and creates the impression that taxpayers will foot the bill for health care. Monday, the House Speaker instead referred to the public option as "the consumer option." Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), appeared with Pelosi and used the term "competitive option."
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