Some of us remember the days when our only options were corporate networks like Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy and eventually MSN. They were expensive, limited, not portable, etc. (sound familiar?) Then the Internet opened up to the public and we had a new Option.
The US Postal Service is the most obvious Public Option. Created in 1775 by Ben Franklin, it provides universal access (there's that phrase again) to mail service that's so important to our personal, business, legal, and political lives.
Our streets, roads, and Interstate Highway system are a Public Option. Some of the corporate owned toll roads constitute "regional monopolies or cartels," another phrase associated with corporate health insurance. Some of the newer toll roads, protected by law from competition, cost 10 times as much per mile as the free, gas tax supported public roads.
Police and fire protection? Public Option. You could hire private security, but that's only feasible if you're wealthy. Like private health insurance.
In all of these cases, you have choices. You can choose the private options, which come with high costs for advertising, overhead, profits, and executive compensation. Or you can choose the Public Option.
We, the owners of this country, deserve the same Option for health care.