I wasn't initially going to write a report on the late developments last night between 10 democratic Senators hand picked by Harry Reid and instructed to lock themselves in a room to come to an agreement on a healthcare bill.  The reason I was waiting to write something about the situation is because it's all still up in the air and we still have to wait for a new CBO report on whether or not this deal will actually reduce the deficit and lower prices for the consumer overall. 

Word came out at around 9pm last night that a deal had been reached, but that the opt-out public option was a casualty of the agreement, to be tentatively replaced by an expansion of Medicare to those 55 and older.  The plan would give private insurers the option to create non-profit insurance plans to be offered nationally in each state, similar to the Federal Employees Benefits Plan.  The kicker is that if private insurers don't offer any national plans for those qualifying for the new program then a version of the public option would be triggered.

There are many details not provided yet so a lot of this discussion isn't even academic yet, but we'll bring you more once we know.