• Why is the public option so vitally important to health reform? At the broadest possible level, the public option is necessary simply because it’s impossible to identify a successful health system anywhere in the world based on a for-profit insurance model.
• Slate columnist Timothy Noah • Discussing the weaknesses in health care reform that will show up if the public option is off the table. While Obama prefers having it, he’s shown wavering over the last week that makes it seem less-necessary than it once did. Noah puts it this way: “You can also think of the public option as a pressure valve. Without it, the government’s attempt to remake the health sector risks blowing itself to smithereens.” • source

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