THE BLOG LINE: Opting Out? Not So Fast!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) plan to include an "opt-out" version of a public health insurance option in his chamber's health reform legislation is getting a lot of bloggers curious about the likelihood and consequences of states deciding to opt out.

The Heritage Foundation's "The Foundry" posted a list of 20 unanswered questions about the "opt-out" plan. The majority of questions are about the procedure that states would need to follow in order to "opt-out." However, the 20th question is, "Besides the public plan, what other provisions of the legislation will a state be able to opt out of? The Medicaid expansion? The new federal insurance regulations?"

According to Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic's "Daily Dish," it would "lethal" for Republican state legislatures to opt out of the public option because the "argument against new entitlements requires a macro-level perspective." He writes, "Imagine Republicans in state legislatures having to argue and posture against an affordable health insurance plan for the folks ... while evil liberals provide it elsewhere." Sullivan continues, "Won't many people -- many Republican voters -- actually ask: why can't I have what they're having?" Sullivan says that would be a "political nightmare for the right," adding, "I can see a public option becoming the equivalent of Medicare in the public psyche if it works as it should. Try running against Medicare."

Ezra Klein believes "that virtually no states will opt out," particularly because they will not be permitted to do so until 2014. "By 2014, we'll be arguing over all manner of things, but a public insurance option for the small sliver of the population with access to the health insurance exchanges will not be one of those things," Klein writes, adding, "I don't believe that state legislatures and governors are going to go to the trouble of rejecting it, and I don't believe that anyone will manage to reinvigorate the controversy around it."

On The Hill's "Pundit's Blog," Brent Budowsky says Congress should "pass a nationwide public option now, allow states to opt out if they choose, and add a trigger that would establish a public option for the opted-out states if they fall short of acceptable standards." According to Budowsky, this would be a "true compromise that takes the best of all worlds."

by Julia Moss, staff writer