Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) will push for a health care plan with a public option that states can opt out of if they choose.

Reid said the compromise will hopefully get support from liberals who want the government to compete with insurers to lower costs and conservatives who do not want the government to provide health care. Their states can opt out.

From CNN.com

The public option is “not a silver bullet” but will ensure healthy competition and a more level playing field for consumers, Reid said on Capitol Hill. Polls show that a wide majority of Americans support a public option, he said.

Reid’s health care bill, which will be given a cost assessment by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also includes a provision from the Finance Committee bill allowing for the creation of nonprofit health care cooperatives that would negotiate collective insurance coverage for members.

Reid hopes his compromise will appeal both to liberal senators insisting on a public option and to conservatives wary of a government-run plan, several Democratic sources said.

The sources said Reid does not have firm commitments for the compromise from 60 senators, the number required to break a Republican-led filibuster.

TAGS: conservative, Health care, liberal, public option

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