At the behest of the National Governor’s Association, Time’s Karen Tumulty moderated a “health reform roundtable” with “Democrats Ted Kulongoski of Oregon and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, and Republicans Jim Douglas of Vermont and Mike Rounds of South Dakota.” Kulongoski and Manchin, Tumulty learned, will attempt to pass a public option in their states if the health care bill passes without one (which it most certainly will, if it passes at all). From Tumulty:
Governor Kulongoski said one of the first questions he will confront is the issue of setting up a public option as part of the state “exchanges” that would be required under the new law. Kulongoski supports a public option. And in his state, work on the feasibility of one is already under way.
Afterward, I asked Douglas and Manchin whether their states might also be giving serious consideration to a public option. Douglas said no, but Manchin insisted: “All of us are going to have to look at that. … What we’ve got to do is make [insurance companies] compete–and a public option is probably the only way.”