Public Option Push in Senate Comes with Escape Hatch
By Robert Pear and David Herszenhorn
New York Times
10-26-09

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, sided with his party's liberals on Monday and announced that he would include a government-run insurance plan in health care legislation that he plans to take to the Senate floor within a few weeks.

His proposal came with an escape hatch: A state could refuse to participate in the public insurance plan by adopting a law to opt out. Even so, the announcement was a turning point in the debate over how much of a role government should play in an overhauled health care system, and it set the stage for a test of Democratic party unity. Read the full article