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A health care compromise that would establish a national public option for insurance coverage that individual states could opt out of, is being "very seriously considered" by Senate Democrats, a key Democratic lawmakers said on Thursday.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC that he and his colleagues have discussed the "opt-out" public option compromise as a way to get a bill past a Republican filibuster. The proposal is designed to get the support of progressive members of the Democratic Caucus -- who are committed to a government-run insurance option -- and conservative Democrats who are worried about what a public plan would have on the private markets in their states.
"[The opt-out] is one of the things being very seriously considered," said Schumer. "I'm not going to -- we have a range of things we're considering. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) and I met for quite a while last night and made progress and talked to a large number of members last night, yesterday. And I am optimistic that there will be some kind of public option in the bill the president signs. I'm very optimistic."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/08/schumer-opt-out-public-op_n_313946.html"It is being discussed," said one progressive strategist who has been working on reform with both the White House and Congress. "In the end obviously, the goal and near-term exercise is to get to the bargaining table and get to the conference committee between the Senate and House with the strongest position [on the public plan] possible."
How such a system would work is still being debated, according to those with knowledge of the proposal. But theoretically, the "opt-out" approach would start with everyone having access to a public plan. What kind of public plan isn't yet clear. States would then have the right to vote - either by referendum, legislature, or simply a gubernatorial decree - to make the option unavailable in their health care exchanges.
Also talked about here:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/10/08/democrats-take-out-defibrillator-for-public-option/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/08/dean-if-i-were-a-senator_n_314118.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/oct/08/healthcare-senate-public-option
And as Ezra Klein puts it:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/10/a_public_option_compromise_tha.htmlIt means, in other words, that the blue states get the public option at full strength and the red states get to ignore it entirely.