Carper Compromise Gains Traction Among Moderate Dems

I talked about this last week and now I see that Ben Nelson is signaling he’ll get behind it.

From the NY Times:

At least one opponent of a public option, Senator Ben Nelson, the Nebraska Democrat, said Tuesday that he was warming to a compromise proposal floated last week by another Democrat, Senator Thomas R. Carper of Delaware.

Mr. Carper has suggested leaving it to the states to decide whether to offer government-sponsored insurance plan, the so-called public option. Details are scant -– Mr. Carper circulated a one-page proposal, not a fully fleshed-out legislative plan — and it is unclear whether the idea will gain enough traction to be included in a final Senate bill. But Mr. Nelson said he had been discussing it with colleagues.

“It all depends on the details,’’ Mr. Nelson said. “But I think there is a legitimate argument for giving the states an option to solve this problem, which is essentially an insurance problem.’’

And just in case you forgot the Carper compromise…here’s the jist (linked above):

Carper wants to allow states to individually decide whether to create a private-insurance competitor such as a government plan and a nonprofit insurance cooperative, or to open up state-based insurance pools for government workers to every resident.

Pretty simple, no? Blue states will go for the public option. Purple states will go half and half. Red states will go for the co-ops.

And remember…this is only for folks who don’t have health care. Everybody else stays the same.

Here’s the question: Is giving states so many choices a good thing?

(Photo: Getty via Daylife)