U.S. Senate Reaches Deal On Public Option

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 9, 2009 4:20PM

With U.S. Senators getting down to the nitty-gritty of the health care bill in front of them, we knew compromises were going to be in order to get the bill hammered out to a passable form. Sure enough, two major steps were taken yesterday that might help the bill pass down the road. The more important of the two was an agreement relating to the public option - the government-run health plan proposed as part of the bill - though specifics about the bill were hard to come by as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wasn't exactly forthcoming about details. (The initial mystery surrounding the agreement even prompted our own Sen. Dick Durbin to tell the New York Times late yesterday, “I have no idea," when asked if an agreement had been reached.) While the new deal doesn't take the public option completely off the table, it does make it a last resort of sorts. As for the details that are known, the L.A. Times reports:

Low- and moderate-income people who selected the nonprofit plan in a new insurance exchange would qualify for subsidies, just as they would if they selected a commercial plan.

The government would oversee the nonprofit plan, ensuring that it met basic standards for quality and affordability. That provision was designed to satisfy demands from many on the left that the government provide consumers with an alternative to coverage offered by for-profit insurers.

The compromise would also create a mechanism for triggering the creation of a more traditional government-run plan like the one now in the bill, if the nonprofit option does not materialize.

The new deal would also give people between ages 55 and 64 and opportunity to buy into Medicare if they could not afford their work plan. A Reid aide told the L.A. Times, "It is the true definition of a hybrid. By and large, it's not a public option, but I think the liberals felt so strongly about getting a bill that allows for comprehensive coverage and meaningful reform, it was worth accepting this. No one believes this is going to be the last word."

Another key step yesterday was the voting down of an amendment which would have tightened restrictions on abortion funding. According to the NY Times:

The health care bill would provide federal subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people buy insurance. The anti-abortion proposal, offered as an amendment by Senators Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, would have barred any health plan bought even partly with federal subsidies from covering the procedure.

Several Democrats sided with Republicans in support of the amendment, drawing a line in the sand that indicates trouble down the line. Both moves made yesterday - on the public option and the abortion vote - are also in opposition to agreements hashed out in the version of the bill passed by House earlier this fall, meaning an even bigger showdown looms as the White House struggles to push the legislation through.