Fourth, you will always have an option for coverage that is fully affordable.
Instead, Obama and Congressional Democrats pulled even the option of government coverage and left the private insurance system in place.
So basically it left you with an option: no coverage, taking the risk that if you're healthy, you will remain healthy.
That is a different -- different approach to expanding coverage under the rubric of public option than the House has taken.
Obama and Democratic leaders argue that a public option would ensure that coverage is available to all Americans while forcing private insurers to lower costs through competition.
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, one of 10 Democratic senators involved in talks on the deal, said he had concerns about the lack of a public option to ensure affordable coverage for those younger than 55 and therefore ineligible for the Medicare expansion.
If the insurance provided by an employer would cost workers more than 9.5 percent of their household income, that insurance is considered unaffordable and workers have a new option: purchase affordable coverage on the new health insurance exchanges, and receive a tax credit to make it easier to get the coverage they need.
Congress faced strong pressure to boost the debt-ridden flood insurance program, which is the primary option for that type of coverage for U.S. homeowners and businesses.
Republicans oppose a government-funded option and any requirement for employers to provide coverage.
CNN: House health-care negotiations end night without a deal
In recent days, two administration officials have told CNN that the prevailing White House opinion is for the Senate health care bill to include a so-called "trigger" mechanism proposed by Snowe that would bring a public option in the future if thresholds for expanding coverage and lowering costs go unmet in coming years.
While he became a strong proponent for universal coverage, for example, he remained ambivalent about the public option.
Snowe has indicated her preference for a "trigger" provision that would mandate creation of a public health insurance option in the future if specific thresholds for expanded coverage and other changes were not met.
In efforts to bridge differences, the Finance Committee proposal dropped the public insurance option and a mandate for all employers to provide health coverage.
CNN: Senate panel votes down public option for health care bill
He said criticism of the tax package reminded him of the carping he faced during the health-care debate, when many on the left fixated on the inability to create a government-run health-insurance option instead of lauding an expansion of health-insurance coverage to 30 million people.
Most Democrats support the public option as a nonprofit competitor to private insurers that would expand coverage and bring down prices.
Democratic leaders reject that claim, saying the public option would provide needed competition for private insurers while making health coverage accessible to millions of people currently lacking health insurance.
CNN: Senate panel votes down public option for health care bill
The House bill includes Democratic proposals for a public option, mandates that people be insured and that employers provide coverage, and eliminates a pre-existing condition as a reason to withhold coverage.
CNN: House health-care negotiations end night without a deal
Democrats reject that claim, saying the public option would be one choice for consumers who could decide instead to select private coverage.
CNN: Key senator says Obama should drop public health care option
The lack of a public option concerns liberal Democrats, who say the Baucus proposal will make required health insurance coverage too expensive for some of the low- and middle-income families it is intended to help.
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President Obama has called a public option the best way to help achieve major goals of health care reform, including expanded coverage and lower costs.
The budget office, however, found that a health care reform bill that includes a public option sought by Democrats would result in 3 million more people enrolled in employer-sponsored coverage by 2016, compared with what would happen under current laws.
CNN: House health-care negotiations end night without a deal
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Among other things, the health care bill would subsidize insurance for poorer Americans, establish a new government-run public option and create health insurance exchanges to make it easier for small groups and individuals to buy coverage.
Another example might include an HR generalist using the system to push out upcoming event information or changes to healthcare coverage to a web portal and then alerting staff to the changes via a mass email or other messaging option.
Liberal Democrats call the public option the only way to truly reform the health care system by ensuring people have access to affordable coverage and providing low-cost competition to private insurers.
The compromise agreement being negotiated by Grassley and the other Finance Committee members has dropped the public option, proposing instead the creation of not-for-profit health insurance collectives that could negotiate collective coverage for members.
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