More than 600 such plans are competing in the $28 billion-a-year prepaid health-care industry.

The public plan would compete in that Insurance Exchange, advisers said.

Any patient could choose any plan; the idea is to force plans to compete for customers by offering the best price and quality.

The plans compete to offer a variety of benefit structures and to provide the best value at the lowest prices.

Mr. Edwards assumes that public plans and private insurers will compete on a level playing field.

Two plans are competing for the space.

The new plan, to be announced on Monday, outlines specific plans to compete in local telephone markets in 1995.

We want to let market forces enable plans to compete.

The Senate bill encourages private plans to compete with one another but not in direct competition with the traditional fee-for-service program.

And employers worry about having fewer plans competing for their business, a trend already translating into higher premiums.