Senate bill to include Public Option opt-out plan

Truthout - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Monday that a health care bill to be introduced on the Senate floor in the next few weeks will include a government-run insurance plan, otherwise known as a public option.

Reid, who is up for reelection next year, said this key element of the bill would include an "opt-out" provision, meaning individual states could decline to participate. States would have a year after the 2013 phase-in of the government's new health insurance plan to decide whether to opt out of the public option.

Reid's version of the bill calls on the government to negotiate rates with health care companies, whereas payments in the House version of the bill supported by Speaker Nancy Pelosi would be tied to Medicare rates. Read more.