Nine Senate Democrats “from across the party’s ideological spectrum are pushing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to make the government-run health insurance option available to workers with employer-based coverage,” The Hill reports.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is the lead sponsor of the proposal to let workers with employer-based coverage sign up for a public option or other health plans that would be made available on insurance exchanges. These exchanges are designed to serve as clearinghouses for various health plans, but only Americans who do not receive health benefits from their employers would be eligible.
“We are concerned that under current proposals too many Americans will not be able to purchase insurance in the exchanges,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter dated Oct. 30.
Majority Leader Reid “is facing conflicting pressure from labor unions that strongly oppose the idea.”
Members who signed onto the letter:
A mixed group of liberal and centrist Democrats signed the statement: Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.), Evan Bayh (Ind.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Ted Kaufman (Del.), Jean Shaheen (N.H.), Roland Burris (Ill.) and Wyden.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, also signed it.
(credit image – associated press)
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