By GottaLaff
The amendment creates federally funded plan to compete.. got Baucus and Conrad support. Passed by one vote.
More soon.
UPDATE: States could get in or out of this option. Cantwell is on Ed Show right now. She says, "It's a start, we'll keep working."
They call it a "quasi-public option":
The Senate Finance Committee narrowly passed an amendment Thursday from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that moves the conservative panel as close as it will likely get to a public health insurance option.UPDATE #2: More on the amendment here. (H/t: Shoq)The amendment creates a "federally funded, non-Medicaid, state plan which combines the innovation and quality of private sector competition with the purchasing power of the states," according to an overview.
It would be available to people with incomes above Medicaid eligibility but below 200 percent of the federal poverty level -- a very narrow window. However, Republicans fear -- and progressives hope -- that once the plan becomes law there will be pressure to expand it.
The plan would not be free. It is based on Washington state's Basic Health plan, which costs roughly 60 dollars a month, with the remainder of the premium subsidized by the state.
Private insurers would be eligible to participate in the plan, as would HMOs or other networks of health care providers.
[...]Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) opposed the amendment, meaning that it could still be removed when Democratic leaders merge the finance bill with the previously passed health committee bill, if the purpose is to secure Snowe's support on the Senate floor.
Yet Democrats are increasingly negotiating the final details of health care reform within their own party, leaving the GOP to protest process. [...]
Cantwell says that her measure -- which can be read here -- would assure coverage of 75 percent of people who are currently uninsured.
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