Public Option Lite?

From the Washington Monthly:

Obama will insist on a "mechanism to cut costs and increase competition among insurance companies," and that he sees a public option as the best way to make that happen. But he's prepared to let lawmakers meet that goal as they see fit, and the "trigger" option preferred by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) may be part of the mix.

As I said earlier, if it isn't going to be the public option, it needs to have the same features that will prevent the private insurers from crushing the new plan or gaming the system.

We'd still be better off if Obama did the leading here. It is very late in the game to introduce a new mechanism which would need to be explained to everybody.