Filibuster threatened in Reid health bill

2009-10-28 02:19:57 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Health & Fitness, News)

Republicans have reportedly threatened a filibuster of a health bill outline by Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Republicans have reportedly threatened a filibuster of a recently proposed health care bill that includes a public option.

Washington, D.C. (WiredPRNews.com) – Majority Leader Harry Reid outlined a Senate health care bill this week that has been met with strong Republican opposition. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), Maine Senator Olympia Snowe has stated that she would side with fellow Republicans in voting to block the bill if it remains as is.

As noted by the AP, the version outlined by Reid includes a public option, but also gives states the opportunity to opt out of accepting a government run insurance plan that would provide competition for private insurers.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. is quoted in the report as stating of the controversy surrounding the public option, “There are some members of the House, obviously, who are very concerned about what the Senate does … because they want to vote for something that can pass, that can be enacted… On the other hand there are a whole lot of people in the House, the great majority of the Democrats in the House, who want to see a health reform bill pass in the fashion that we believe is justified … and I think an overwhelming majority of Democrats are in favor of the public option.”

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