WH Getting Close To Finishing Health Care Proposal — Public Option Not Included

President Barack Obama talks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Oval Office.
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What’s in the president’s health care reform proposal? Not the public option, it seems.

The White House has just about finished outlining the health care reform bill that President Obama will take to his Feb. 25 bipartisan summit, according to at least one report. And it sounds like the proposed compromise will likely contain the Cadillac tax, but not a public health insurance option.

According to Greg Sargent, the bill will look something like what the House and Senate were trying to agree on in January, complete with a crackdown on businesses that don’t insure their employees.

Sargent talked to a Senior Democratic leadership aide, who added that the bill will be packaged as a White House proposal and not a House-Senate compromise, in order to avoid baiting GOPers who might accuse Democrats of making “backroom deals.”

The aide also said the inclusion of the Cadillac tax in its current form, which is not exactly what House Democrats wanted, “is what the White House wants to do,” but “it’s not a done deal. It can be changed later.”

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