Unexpected support for the Public Option from commenter Dan

by folkbum

While researching the last post about Ted Kanavas, refreshing my memory of what Healthy Wisconsin was and wasn't, I found this quote from the Las Vegas Badger, better known around here by Dan, the name he comments under.

[W]hy not let the government go into the free market by offering health insurance. Get a [little] competition. If people believe the government can provide better service, then they'll [buy], if people think the private sector does a better job, then they will go with the private sector. The main thing I object to is forcing people to switch to government health insurance.

Now, that was attached to this two-year-old post, and not something Dan has written lately in all the discussion of the public option as it appears in HR3200 and other reform bills circulating in Congress. However, Dan in that old comment nails exactly what the public option is--added competition for private insurance companies, and not something anyone will be required to sign up for.

Now, Dan seems to be singing a different tune lately--see here, for example. Which is interesting given that he was so willing to see a public insurance plan not that long ago.