This afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that the merged Senate health bill would establish a national public option that allows states to opt out of the plan by 2014. Reid did not indicate that he had 60 votes in support of the opt-out, but said that he would not submit competing public option compromises to the Congressional Budget Office. The answer suggests that the Senate would not use the trigger or any other compromise as an alternative if the opt-out measure fai