The
The bill, recently unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), includes a government-run health insurance plan (“public option”) intended to compete with private insurers. The association says the public option would not compete on a level playing field with private insurers and points to the current government-run health insurance plans as ample evidence of this. More, Robert Rusbuldt, IIABA president & CEO, contended that individual states are unlikely to utilize the “opt-out” clause contained within the bill.
“We do not believe any state legislature or governor will ‘opt’ to take away an entitlement bestowed upon their citizens by the federal government and federal taxpayers,” Rusbuldt said in a statement. “Especially since the citizens of that state cannot ‘opt out’ of paying for the public option. Therefore, the ‘opt-out’ is not a viable compromise, and it is synonymous with the ‘robust’ public option.”