Speaking to reporters on Air Force One today, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said he would support either a trigger or an opt-out public option.
Nelson, who was traveling with President Obama to events in Florida this afternoon, added that states should be required to be part of the public option for at least two years before getting the chance to opt out.
If they can opt out right away, “the insurance lobbyists will just convince state legislatures to opt out and as a result you won’t get the benefits of competition to see if in fact the competition is there,” he said.
“It will be hard for the states to opt out if the rates have been brought low by the public option,” he added.
Earlier in the interview, before reporters told Nelson that Sen. Harry Reid was about to announce an opt-out in the Senate bill, Nelson said he would recommend Reid put the trigger option in the bill.
“Of course, my preference would be a public option from the get go, but I’m making the assumption that we can’t get the votes for that. So we can achieve the same thing with tight standards for a trigger,” he said.
He also said a trigger might entice Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to vote for the bill.
“I think having Olympia with us is a good signal, and then if Olympia’s with us by the time you get around to final final passage, you may have another handful of GOP come with us,” he said.
