The need to offer a substitute to placate those desiring a public option created this Frankenstein monster, which was admittedly not well thought-out. Those who did it ended up with the worst of all possible worlds; no public option supporter really even knew about these multi-state plans, and they have the potential to disrupt the exchanges and cause a race to the bottom.

Democratic leadership is pushing around this Ezra Klein story about how the health care bill passed by the Senate incorporates all the major ideas from Republican health care proposals. Tort reform, interstate insurance, the ability for states to design their own plans, capping the employer deduction, throwing out public options in favor of a private-only [...]

Dan Pfeiffer has become something of a blogger/communications director at the White House, often posting rebuttals to various commentaries or news items. Today he took aim at a Charles Krauthammer column which criticized the health care reform bills, and in so doing touted some really pernicious elements of them.