WASHINGTON — Can the public option be revived?
Four months after President Obama signed the historic health-reform bill into law, House Democrats are officially plotting to bring back the government-run health plan that was stripped out under political pressure.
House members introduced the Public Option Act Wednesday evening to create a Medicare-like public plan that would compete with private insurance plans. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., is the bill’s main sponsor. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, is among the 128 co-sponsors.
The public option under this legislation is more “robust” than even what the House itself passed last November. Instead of the government negotiating reimbursement rates with doctors and hospitals, the proposal this time calls for paying providers a flat Medicare rate plus 5 percent. Democrats in the Senate couldn’t muster the votes for a public option last year, and it was left out of the final reform bill.