Separate And Unequal

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

SOME WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS HAVE DECIDED THAT THE WAY to keep big companies behind the new health-care plan is to let them out of it. In a major concession, members of Hillary Rodham Clinton's health-care task force say they will recommend to the President that he allow firms with 1,000 employees or more to "opt out" of the health-insurance pools, known as "alliances," that form the backbone of the Clinton health-care overhaul. Some experts say this move could create a two-tier system: one with generally better-insured members (working for large companies) and the other with generally less well- insured members (working mainly for smaller firms). To mollify labor unions, task-force officials will probably also propose some sort of regulation that discourages such opting out.