More from U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen’s office on the health insurance reform bill that House Democrats may vote on by Saturday. I asked Larsen Chief of Staff Kim Johnston what his thoughts were on the public option, since he hadn’t supported it previously, and because it wasn’t mentioned in his first press release.

Here’s her response.

What’s in the bill:

Under the House health care reform bill, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would establish a public health insurance option that would be available through the Health Insurance Exchange. Any individual eligible to purchase coverage through the Exchange would be eligible to enroll in the public option. The public option would have to meet the requirements that apply to all Exchange-participating plans, including those related to benefits, provider networks, consumer protections, and cost-sharing. Limited start-up funding would be available, but it would be repaid within 10 years.

Does Rick Larsen support the public option in the House bill:

After reading the section of the bill containing the public option, Rep. Larsen has come to the conclusion that he supports the public option in this bill. This new public option will work for Washington state. In the original bill (H.R. 3200) payment rates in the public option would have been based on Medicare, which would have shortchanged Washington state. But the payment rates in this new public option (H.R. 3962) will be negotiated between doctors and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This will ensure that doctors and hospitals are paid closer to market rates. Paying doctors fair market rates will ensure that they are able to accept patients covered by the public plan.

Rep. Larsen has also said that he believes any public option must compete under a “level playing field” with the private health insurance market. The public option in this bill will do just that: it will be subject to the same rules that private insurance plans are subject to, and it will not be subsidized by the government.