Public option part of Senate health plan
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate version of healthcare reform will include a public option, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced Monday.
"While the public option is not a silver bullet, I believe it's an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients with the insurance industry," Reid, D-Nev., said during a news conference.
Reid and Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairmen of the Senate committees on health and finance, have been meeting for several weeks to meld the two committees' bills into one.
States would be able to opt out of the government-run insurance program if they choose, Reid said.
"I believe that a public option can achieve the goal of bringing meaningful reform to our broken system," Reid said. "It will protect consumers, keep insurers honest and ensure competition. And that's why we intend to include it in the bill that ... will be submitted to the Senate."
The White House, in a statement, hailed the action, saying, "(We're) closer than we've ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the president is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made."
President Barack Obama also was pleased that "the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out."
Reid said he would be sending the proposal to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office for scoring, a move that "will make us a step closer to achieving a bill this year that lowers costs, preserves choice, creates competition and improves quality of care."
Reid said he believed the opt-out, public option "will have the support of my caucus to move to this bill and start legislating" once it is returned from the CBO.
Harvard investigates poisoning case
BOSTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The mysterious poisoning of six lab workers at Harvard Medical School should be investigated as a crime, a Boston toxicologist said.
The scientists and students fell ill after drinking from a coffee machine at the New Research Building in the Longwood Medical complex, The Boston Herald reported Monday.
The six, who recovered, were found to have ingested sodium azide, a poison, Harvard officials publicly disclosed late last week, nearly two months after the Aug. 26 incident.
"Could it have gotten in the coffee machine inadvertently? Absolutely not," said David Benjamin, a toxicologist and clinical pharmacologist in Boston. "It could be considered an attempted murder or assault."
Harvard officials are "very thoroughly and intensely" investigating the incident, medical school spokesman David Cameron said Sunday, offering no other details.
A decade ago, a doctor at a hospital in Kyoto, Japan, was convicted of putting sodium azide, a preservative, in tea served to fellow doctors, The Herald reported.
Jordanian pleads innocent in bomb attempt
DALLAS, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A 19-year-old Jordanian man Monday pleaded innocent to trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper, U.S. District Court authorities said.
Hosam Smadi, who was caught in an FBI sting, appeared before federal Judge Barbara Lynn on charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and bombing of a place of public use.
Smadi was arrested Sept. 24 for allegedly trying to detonate what he thought was a truck bomb in a parking garage beneath the 60-story Fountain Place tower in Dallas. The bomb was a fake planted by federal agents.
FBI agents working undercover as terrorists said they met Smadi through an extremist Web site in which he allegedly expressed interest in weakening the United States, The Dallas Morning News reported Monday.
Smadi was in the United States on a temporary visa and worked at a restaurant in Italy, Texas. His brother, Husein Smadi, was being held Monday in California as a material witness, prosecutors said.
FAA mandates stronger passenger seats
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Federal Aviation Administration officials said new agency guidelines require U.S. airlines to offer better seats and head protection for passengers.
ABC News said Monday the new regulations, set to take effect Tuesday, require commercial airplanes to be fitted with stronger passenger seats, while offering improved head protection to lessen the risk to passengers during a hard impact.
Flight Safety Foundation President William Voss said better protecting airline passengers can be vital since most airplane accidents are not fatal.
"Only one out of three major airline accidents is fatal," Voss told ABC News. "So it's very important that you are able to get up and out of the aircraft quickly. ... You've only got about 60 seconds typically if there is a major fire."
"The stronger seats are going to help you survive that initial impact uninjured and help you quickly move out of the cabin," he added.
The new FAA regulations mean new passengers seat will have to withstand impacts of 16 times the force of gravity.
ABC News said the new FAA rules come as some airlines are already installing air bags to better protect passengers in crashes.
U.S. Chamber, White House trade non-barbs
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it would take the high road in what he called a "name-calling campaign" from officials at the White House.
"We're not going to take the bait and engage in a name-calling campaign here of invectives back and forth. We're going to stay focused," lobbyist Bruce Josten said, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The White House denied it was trying to alienate the chamber. "There has, of course, been disagreements," said Deputy Press Secretary Jen Psaki. "But we're going to continue to work with the chamber on a variety of issues," Psaki said.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is scheduled to appear as a keynote speaker at the chamber's November board meeting and President Barack Obama has invited both chamber and National Federation of Independent Business members to a discussion at the White House Thursday, the Post reported.
But tensions remain. During his run for president, Obama said he would "work for the American people" rather than "well-connected interest."
"Under the Obama administration, Washington is changing and the role of big lobbying organizations like the chamber has changed as well," Psaki said.
