The Jane Hamshers of the world really need to sit down and consider this kind of thing in light of their own unyielding demands for some theoretical, perfect-out-of-the-gate plan that they feel could pass if given the chance and, at least, 55 newly minted progressive Senators:

Congressman Alan Grayson, (D-Orlando), today introduced a bill (H.R. 4789) which would give the option to buy into Medicare to every citizen of the United States. The “Public Option Act,” also known as the “Medicare You Can Buy Into Act,” would open up the Medicare network to anyone who can pay for it.

You see, the current iteration of health insurance reform isn’t it. It’s a starting point. To which popular things, like the public option, or a (vastly superior) Medicare buy-in program can be added. And it’s a hell of a lot harder to argue against a buy-in program when it can be presented as legitimate competition to commercial plans as opposed to some cog in a giant death panels machine. That’s also the moment that all the poisonous rhetoric the GOP employed in the run-up to reform bites them squarely in the ass.

Medicare began as a quite limited program you wouldn’t recognize today. Wasn’t even called Medicare; it was the catchily named Kerr-Mills Act that created Medical Assistance for the Aged (MAA). Can’t imagine why they changed that. But I’m sure everyone blogging about it was quite disappointed with it. Just sayin’.

Pass. The. Damned. Bill.