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After a weekend of intense consultations with fellow Democrats, Senate majority leader Harry Reid has decided he has the votes to get a health-reform bill with a public option to the Senate floor. "I believe we clearly will have the support of my caucus to move to this bill and start legislating," Reid declared at a news conference Monday afternoon. The real question, however, is whether he has the votes it will take to get it out of the chamber...
...bill that Reid intends to introduce would include a public option with a so-called "opt-out" provision, giving states the ability to decide not to offer a small share of their residents the chance to buy into a government-run health-insurance alternative. Ostensibly, such a provision would appeal to moderates, who object to the public option as giving the government too big a role in health care. But in practice, it is difficult to see why any state would actually make the decision to opt out, considering that no one would be forced to buy into the public...
...Indeed, the real significance of his move is tactical. Both procedural hurdles ahead of Reid - bringing up the bill and cutting off a promised Republican filibuster - will require him to muster every one of the 60 Democrats in his caucus. But the motion to proceed is far easier for the Democrats; to block their leader on that would be a gratuitous slight. What is questionable is whether they will vote with him when the time comes to cut off a filibuster, a procedural move that is known as invoking cloture. At this point, it appears that Reid could be three...
...Recent weeks, however, have also seen some subtle shifts in the politics surrounding the debate over whether the health-care legislation should include a public option. A new round of polls show that it continues to enjoy broad public support, and the industry's efforts to fight the bill may have backfired politically. Additionally, there are new horror stories of people being denied coverage on unfair pretexts, and reports that insurers are jacking up the rates for small business in advance of the legislation. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office recently determined that a public option could save a significant amount...
Insurers are furious that Senate majority leader Harry Reid's health-care-reform bill will include a public option - even though it lets states opt out if they don't want the government-run insurance alternative. Liberals are ecstatic with Reid over that same public option - even though opt-out states would be able to keep their markets completely private, which would limit the public plan's power to negotiate volume-based discounts in other states. (Read "Understanding the Health-Care Debate: Your Indispensable Guide...