The new Fund report, Fork in the Road: Alternative Paths to a High Performance U.S. Health System, is the first to compare three different scenarios: one that includes a public plan option in which health care providers would be paid at rates that fall midway between current Medicare rates and private plan rates, among other payment reforms; one that includes a public plan option that links payments more closely to Medicare rates; and one that includes no public plan, instead relying exclusively on private plans.
