Republican and Democratic Senators weigh possibilities of an Opt-Out Option

Last Thursday, Senate Democratic leaders met with White House officials to consider including a government-funded public health insurance option, but this time with a twist. There will be a provision for states to opt out of the option if they decide that they would like to. In this so called health care overhaul bill, the goal is to get 60 votes necessary to overcome a Senate filibuster. The goal is not to just pull in Republican senators for the plan, but also to get moderate Democrats to support the public option.
So far Sen. Olympia Snowe has been the only GOP supporter of the health care legislation original bill, but now with the opt-out option, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is now leaning in favor of the bill. In a few weeks, the bill will reach the full chamber. Still there are still Democratic Senators such as Ben nelson of Nebraska, who is known to be a moderate Democrat, still opposes the idea of a national public option with an opt-out for the states. In still another twist, the only republican to support the public option as it was originally presented, Senator Olympia Snowe is opposed to the opt-out option.
President Obama has been in meetings concerning the opt-out provision, but if he had his way, all states would accept the bill as originally stated. He stated that a health care bill must become law before the end of the year, and he is anxious to move on to other issues. House Democratic leaders learned earlier this week that the CBO projected their bill would cost $871 billion over 10 years and also reduce the deficit during that time. But the CBO was unable to assess what the impact would be in the next 10 years.