SENATOR REID: PREPARED REMARKS, Oct. 26. 2009
The last two weeks have been a great opportunity to work with the White House, Senators Baucus and Dodd, and members
of our Caucus on this critical issue of reforming our health insurance system.
We have had productive, meaningful discussions about how to craft the strongest bill that can gain the 60 votes necessary
to move forward in the Senate.
I feel good about progress we have made within our caucus and with the White House, and we are all optimistic about reform
because of the unprecedented momentum that exists.
I am well aware that the issue of the public option has been a source of great discussion in recent weeks.
I have always been a strong supporter of the public option.
While the public option is not a silver bullet, I believe it is an important way to ensure competition and to level the
playing field for patients.
As we’ve gone through this process, I’ve concluded, with the support of the White House and Senators Baucus
and Dodd, that the best way forward is to include a public option with an opt-out provision for states.
Under this concept, states will be able to determine whether the public option works well for them and will have the
ability to opt-out.
I believe that a public option can achieve the goal of bringing meaningful reform to our broken system. It will
protect consumers, keep insurers honest and ensure competition and that’s why we intend to include it on the bill that
will be submitted to the Senate for consideration.
We have spent countless hours over the last few days in consultation with Senators who have shown a genuine desire to
see reform succeed, and I believe there is strong consensus to move forward in this direction.
Today’s developments bring us another step closer to achieving our goal of passing a bill this year that lowers
costs, preserves choice, creates competition and improves quality of care.
