Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that the Senate health care bill would include a "public option."
The provision would allow the federal government to create an opt-out insurance plan to be offered to Americans who do not get medical coverage through their employers, the LA Times reported.
"While the public option is not a silver bullet, I believe it's an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients with the insurance industry," Reid said during a Capitol news conference, the LA Times reported.
The opt-out provision will require states to take legislative action to exit the plan, possibly increases the burden for opponents, the Times reported.
"There's now real momentum toward meaningful healthcare reform," Justin Ruben, MoveOn.org’s executive director, told the Times.
I will support "any provision, including a public option that will ensure choice and competition and get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said in a statement.
"As [Obama] said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.
The public option plus an opt-out is several votes shy of the 60 votes needed, Senate aides told the NY Times. Every member of the Democratic caucus may be needed to reach that total, as the 40 Republicans in the chamber seem united in their opposition to the proposal.
