I think some of the resistance to the Public Option is the name. Kind of drab and prosaic. Like public school. Or public parks. Or public streets. Or public libraries, or public safety. Yeah, these things provide essential services, but they sound so darn dull. ‘Public option’ after all, is a generic term. If it were a package it would be white with a bar code on it.

Take a hint from the insurance companies. They spend millions on branding, and come up with cute names like Tenet, and Blue Cross, and Cigna.

We want something that says medical, but feels caring…I’ve got it–Medicare! We can let people opt-in to Medicare. Medicare is a popular, well-tested insurance program with a good record of keeping administrative costs down.

You can color the logo red, white and blue. I think it will work.

Last year the insurance industry spent almost 500 million dollars lobbying against the public option. So you can understand that they can’t afford to let sick people latch on to their plans. Let’s make everyone happy. Drop the public option, open Medicare to everyone, let the insurance companies keep on doing what they do, and let people have a real choice.