Last Friday it looked like the most likely compromise on including a public option in the healthcare bill was Olympia Snowe’s “trigger.” But either that was just a feint or else everyone changed their minds over the weekend:
The Senate health care legislation will include a government-run insurance plan, but states would be allowed to “opt out” of it, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, announced Monday afternoon.
….“Under this concept, states will be able to determine whether the public option works well 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.”
Snowe has announced that she won’t support this, so that means Republicans are now unanimously opposed to healthcare reform. It can still pass, but only if the Democratic caucus is unanimously willing to allow a floor vote. Needless to say, this is still up in the air. Fasten your seatbelts.
