The case for public health insurance

It appears Congress is going to pass some kind of health care reform legislation. The only question is whether the final plan will be more closely aligned to the legislation pending in the House of Representatives, which includes a public option, or the one in the Senate that does not. I have always believed that any meaningful reform bill must contain a public option, but not be dominated by it. By that I mean the option should only be available to the unemployed or for those working for small companies that don't provide health insurance to their employees. In that way, public options are not in direct competition with private insurers but would still work to keep overall costs down.

The New York Times has a superb editorial today that discusses this idea in more depth. It is worth reading for anyone who wants to engage in a sensible, intelligent, non-partisan debate on the subject of health care reform.