Definition: Public option is the term being used for a proposed government choice for health care insurance. This is part of a larger health care reform bill proposed by President Obama in the first year of his presidency to overhaul the health care system with health care reform and insurance reform.
Theoretically, the way a public option would work would be similar to the Medicare system already offered to older adults. President Obama and his supporters feel the public option would be a way for uninsured Americans to obtain insurance since it would be available to all Americans at an affordable cost and would not exclude individuals for pre-existing conditions.
Opponents feel a government run insurance program available to all Americans, like the proposed public option, would be unfair competition to insurance companies since the government run pubic option would attract more customers and put private insurance companies out of business therefore causing a huge cost burden on taxpayers.
Also Known As: Insurance Exchange
Examples:
Jim currently has insurance through his employer. He has found that the public option insurance offered by the government will be $20 less per month and cover more. Jim decided to drop his employer based insurance to obtain coverage under the government run public option insurance plan.
