June 24, 2009 08:29 PM UTC

Udall Holds Firm For "Public Option," Bennet Amenable But Less Specific

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post reports:

The push to reform health care – one of Congress’ most ambitious legislative efforts of the past decade – has suddenly snagged over the question of a government-run option for health insurance that would compete with private insurers.

Liberal Democrats say the so-called public option would hold down costs, and they insist that it be included. Republicans and some centrist Democrats in the Senate fear it’s a slippery slope to an entirely government-run system similar to Canada’s, and they have called the public option a deal-breaker…

The idea of health insurance cooperatives was proposed as a middle ground last week by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., a moderate helping to craft a reform bill in the Senate Finance Committee. It’s also no coincidence that Conrad hails from a farm state where rural co-ops are mainstay institutions.

Different from a company owned by shareholders that maximizes profits, co-ops are nonprofits owned by the customers, experts who have studied the model say. A credit union is a co-op, and so is Ocean Spray, a company jointly owned by cranberry producers.

But just how that translates into health insurance is still unclear…

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., called the co-op idea “intriguing” but also said he supports a government-run health insurance option. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said he was open to all options that lowered costs and expanded accessibility and would support either a public option or co-ops if they did those things.

We actually don’t find the “co-op” model all that objectionable, in fact we see ways it could work with a “public option” plan in the marketplace. Just like banks and credit unions, they don’t have to be mutually exclusive–and can live alongside everything the private sector offers, too. But Mark Udall is clearly indicating here that the co-op idea should not displace the public option in the current legislation–once again making his persistent linkage (by liberal pundits, anyway) with the much-reviled “Conservadem” caucus a little tough to explain.

Michael Bennet, for his part, went into the debate with his “starting point” that everyone who wants to keep their current insurance should be able to do so. There’s nothing inconsistent with that goal in the public option plan, and once again Colorado’s senior Senator is giving Bennet all the head space he needs to gingerly step out of that comfort zone and take a stand.

Like we said Monday, the voters are by all accounts more ready for real health care reform, meaning a robust public-administered option, than their representatives seem to be. They do not seem to be buying into the reanimated “Harry and Louise” campaign being mounted by the industry and conservative usual suspects. We’d say Bennet has a lot less to worry about here than he thinks–and should be taking his cue from Udall.