From the "Me too" file.

Dr. Dean on "opt-out" public option proposals in the Senate...

"If this is what it takes to get 60 votes I say go for it."

Me too. Again, I don't expect to get much personal benefit out of any of the proposals likely to come out of Congress. If I'm to be forced, though, to make a contribution to an insurance company for a minimal plan rendered inaccessible to me by co-pays and deductibles, I'd prefer to make that contribution to a public entity. Since I'm reasonably confident that Washington would be an opt-in state, that option should be available to me.

It's politically important to get some kind of insurance reform package done this year, but universal health insurance is only an incremental step on the path to a universal health care. If insurance reform is unevenly or imperfectly implemented, that incrementalism carries the blessing of impermanence. The opt-out plans I've heard about seem like about 2/3 of a loaf, and I've been expecting no more than a half all along.

So, yeah, me too. For now.