Twenty Questions on Reid’s Opt Out Plan

Edmund Haislmaier / October 28, 2009

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that he would bring to the Senate floor a bill that includes a new “public plan,” but with a provision allowing states to “opt-out.” In response to a reporter’s question, Reid said that states would have until 2014 to opt-out.

Setting aside the debate over the merits of a “public option”,- a new government-run health plan to compete against private health plans- there are a number of additional questions about how such a state opt-out would work. Specifically:

1. What process will a state have to follow if it wants to opt-out of the public plan?
2. Will opting-out require an affirmative vote of the state’s legislature?
3. Will an opt-out resolution approved by a state’s legislature need to also be approved by the state’s governor?
4. In some states the legislature meets in a full-session only every other year. In keeping with the allowances given such states by Congress when it has enacted federal laws that required state action, will those states be given additional time beyond 2014 to decide if they want to opt-out?
5. Can a state decision to opt-out be made through a ballot initiative or referendum? (more…)