During a tele-townhall with constituents today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he supports a public option...but then he added an extremely important caveat. Reid said he doesn't think the public option ought to be a government run program like Medicare, but instead favors a "private entity that has direction from the federal government so people that don't fall within the parameters of being able to get insurance from their employers, they would have a place to go.
Asked for clarification, Reid's people tried to explain:
Late update: Reid spokesman Jim Manley emails in that Reid's preference is for a "public option," but would not confirm that Reid means "public option" as commonly understood: an insurance program run by the Department of Health and Human Services or another government body.
Late late update: Manley adds, "The govt could contract w a private company to administer the public option. [Sen. Reid] is willing to consider a co-op if he is shown it works to make insurers honest."
Clear now?
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