Sometimes Sen. Feinstein gets a hard time around these parts, but on the public option, it seems she and Senator Boxer are paddling in the same direction.  Both Senators pushed Sen. Reid to include the public option in the bill that will be brought to the Senate floor.

As the Senate prepares to debate a massive health care overhaul, California Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are pushing hard for a public option, which would allow the federal government to compete with private insurers.

The two senators are included in a group of 30 who wrote a letter earlier this month to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, asking that a public option be included in the Senate bill. (CapAlert)

The public option, with a state opt-out, was in the bill. It is disappointing that the opt-out provision was included, especially considering how easy it is for health insurance companies to leverage campaign contributions in many state legislatures, it seems that this is the way momentum is running for the time being.

Others who pay more attention to this stuff can probably explain this better, but the logic seems to be that even a less than national public option will have some cost benefits as well as pressure for states to eventually sign on to the public option.