Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has announced Monday that the merged Senate health care bill will include a public option (government-run health insurance plan) with an opt-out provision for states. The new merged language will be sent to the Congressional Budget Office for analysis. Once the CBO has scored the merged bill, the Senator will bring the bill to the floor for open debate.

In a press conference, Senator Reid stated that he had been working with Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Max Baucus (D-MT) on the reform legislation in crafting the strongest bill from the HELP bill and the recent Senate Finance Committee bill. "I feel good about the consensus that was reached within our caucus and with the White House, and we are all optimistic about reform because of the unprecedented momentum that now exists."

Reid reiterated that he has long been a strong supporter of a public option. While not a "silver bullet," Reid said the public option was "an important way to ensure competition and level the playing field for patients with the insurance industry." Reid further said that in conjunction with the White House and Senators Dodd and Baucus, he felt that the best step forward is to include in health reform legislation a public option with the opt-out provision for states.

"Under this concept," Reid explained, "states would be able to determine if the public option works for them and will have the ability to opt out if they so choose. I believe that a public option can achieve the goal of bringing meaningful reform to our broken system; it will protect consumers, keep insurers honest and ensure competition. And that is why we intend to include it in the bill that will be submitted to the Senate." Reid concluded by saying he felt there was now a strong consensus to move forward in the public option direction. The merged bill "will make us a step closer to achieving a bill this year that lowers cost, preserves choice, creates competition and improves quality of care."

Senator Reid's remarks can be accessed at: http://democrats.senate.gov/

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