For readers old enough to have tasted Crystal Pepsi, the phrase “public option” might ring a bell. It was a proposed government-backed health plan that progressives wanted included in the Affordable Care Act in 2009 — only to come up short of support before final passage. Since then it’s faded from the national policy conversation and activists have set their own sights higher toward Medicare For All. But three states have quietly rolled out versions of a public option in recent years, Vox’s Rachel Cohen Booth reports, and the model might be due for a revival as issues it was once intended to address — access, cost, stability — are only becoming more relevant.
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