Health Care, Public Option | featured news

Obama urges Senate Dem to pass bill; Lieberman signals support if buy-in plan is dropped.

44 | President calls Senate plan "a creative new framework" to provide coverage to uninsured without relying on government insurance option.

Democrats are engaged in urgent talks to work out a compromise on one of the most contentious health care issues: a proposal for the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies.

Two centrist senators, Ben Nelson and Joseph I. Lieberman, said that they were opposed the bill as it is currently written, particularly its inclusion of a new government-run insurance program.

What's all the fuss about? After all the noise over Democrats' push for a government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, ...

The plan would offer a U.S.-run insurance program but drop cost controls backed by liberals. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the compromise would make healthcare more affordable for the middle class.

Support of government-backed insurance plan is a key concession to liberals, but the Senate provision would also give states the right to opt out.

In shift, many lawmakers now expect final bill will include form of government-run insurance for people without employer-based health coverage.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has told colleagues that he may include a government-run health insurance plan in a health care bill he will soon take to the Senate floor.

Their plan is estimated below Obama's $900-billion price tag. House Democrats are aiming to scale back the cost of their healthcare bill below President Obama's price tag by giving the government a strong hand in selling insurance in competition with the private market.