September 13:
SCHIEFFER:
You first broached this idea of the so-called trigger option, and that is setting a deadline for these private insurance companies to come up with plans that would cover everyone who needed health care, and then if they didn't get that, then consider some sort of a public option. Do you still feel that way? SNOWE: Yes, I do. I think it is a possibility. You know, bridging the gap at some point in this process as we move forward. And, in fact, I recommended it to the president months ago, even before health care was at the forefront in Congress, because that started (ph) as a way of assuring coverage, not instituting a public option, but making sure that people have access to choices of affordable coverage if the health insurance industry doesn't perform under a newly restructured market, similar to what we did in the prescription drug benefit, which actually -- it worked. There were so many choices, we never triggered the fallback, in fact.
SCHIEFFER: Well, you are a part of the Senate Finance Committee and part of the group that's trying to put together some sort of a bipartisan group. Will that be in the plan that the Finance Committee puts forward?
SNOWE:
It's not on the table. And it won't be. We'll be using the co-op as an option at this point, as the means for injecting competition in the process. link White House Denies Pushing Trigger Option, Dem Groups ConcurThey're dead, co-ops and the trigger are dead.