Fool me twice ...

Paul Krugman offers Congress two pieces of heartfelt advice:  "1) Don't trust the insurance industry," and "2) Don't trust the insurance industry."

A few days ago, major players in the health industry laid out what they intend to do to slow the growth in health care costs. Topping the list of AHIP’s proposals was “administrative simplification.” Providers, the lobby conceded, face “administrative challenges” because of the fact that each insurer has its own distinct telephone numbers, fax numbers, codes, claim forms and administrative procedures. “Standardizing administrative transactions,” AHIP asserted, “will be a watershed event.”

Think about it. The insurance industry’s idea of a cutting-edge, cost-saving reform is to do what William Kristol — William Kristol! — thought it should have done 15 years ago.

How could the industry spend 15 years failing to make even the most obvious reforms? The answer is simple: Americans seeking health coverage had nowhere else to go. And the purpose of the public option is to make sure that the industry doesn’t waste another 15 years — by giving Americans an alternative if private insurers fall down on the job.

Be warned, however. The insurance industry will do everything it can to avoid being held accountable.

Brian Beutler reports at TPM/DC that the Blue Dog Dems are holding out on the public option.  But -- and this is important -- not all of them.  That coalition is not very tight on this issue, though it could do some damage.

It should be noted that the Blue Dogs aren't monolithic on this point. Already, Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Mike Michaud (D-ME) are distancing themselves from this statement--and several others have signaled in the past that they support a public option at the outset. But at the very least this demonstrates that there's still a considerable appetite among conservative Democrats for weakening or imperiling the public option.