Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

October 01, 2009

Reid Says Final Bill Will Have Public Option

In a conference call with constituents, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said today there will be a "public option" in whatever health insurance reform bill comes out of Congress, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

Said Reid: "We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president's desk. I believe the public option is so vitally important to create a level playing field and prevent the insurance companies from taking advantage of us."

Update: Reid's office sends over this statement: "Sen. Reid believes that health insurance reform must include a mechanism to keep insurers honest, create competition and keep costs down," the statement reads. "He feels that the public option is the best way to do that. While we don't know exactly what that option will look like, Sen. Reid, working with President Obama, will ensure that whatever is included in the final bill does just that."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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