If anyone had any remaining doubts about the daunting politics of health care reform, the last couple of weeks have served as a stark reminder. Congressional Budget Office estimates of the ten-year costs of Senate health bills have caused the GOP to pounce and deficit-wary Democrats to start scaling back their proposals; and despite the fact that recent polls show a sizeable majority of Americans supporting the creation of a public health plan as an alternative to private insurance, Republicans made clear over the weekend that they remain steadfastly opposed to any government option. But perhaps the clearest sign yet of the unpredictable nature of such an ambitious policy overhaul is the approach that is suddenly starting to emerge on Capitol Hill as an alternative to a public plan — non-profit, consumer run health insurance cooperatives
