WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that health-care legislation that comes before the Senate will have a government-run health-insurance option that states can choose not to carry.
The Nevada Democrat told reporters that, under the legislation, states would have until 2014 to choose to "opt out" of the public plan.
Liberal lawmakers and groups cheered Mr. Reid's announcement. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.), who has argued forcefully in favor of a public plan, in a statement said he is "gratified to see the public option debate is alive and well in the Senate."
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
