One much-discussed idea that did not get into the final version of the bill was a so-called public option—that is, a nonprofit health insurance plan offered by the federal government, a sort of Medicare-at-any-age program. Fearful of competition from the government, the health insurance industry lobbied strenuously, and successfully, to kill the public option plan. But the mere threat of a government-run competitor had a profound effect: to ward off the public option, the insurers reluctantly agreed to a broad range of new restrictions and regulations that they had never accepted before.
