WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is moving toward including a public health-insurance option in the final bill he will send to the floor, senators briefed on the issue said Thursday, putting a dramatic end to a week of steadily gaining momentum for the lightning-rod provision.
Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said they had been told that Reid and others negotiating the final bill are considering the plan.
"I'm not part of those discussions. What I'm hearing is that this is the direction of the conversation," said Conrad, who supports an alternative approach under which nonprofit co-ops would compete with private industry.
"I keep hearing there is a lot of leaning toward some sort of national public option, unfortunately, from my standpoint," Nelson said.
The White House declined to comment.
SOURCE: Denver Post
