Mike Soraghan reports on The Hill:

First he was for it. Then he was against it. Now Rep. Mike Ross is back on board with a government-run healthcare plan. Sort of.

Ross (D-Ark.), who had emerged as a leader among centrist Blue Dog Democrats opposing the public health insurance option, has suggested something his colleagues consider even more drastic – opening Medicare to those under 65 without insurance. …

…His statement went on to say that he does “not support a government-run public option” and he does “not endorse this idea” of opening up Medicare.

As Steve Benen says, huh?

Making Medicare available to everybody would have been the most sensible approach, of course. There must be a catch.

On the other hand, here’s this from The Politico:

The forces in favor of a public health insurance option roared back Thursday on Capitol Hill after weeks when their cause looked bleak.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) looked closer than ever to including a robust U.S. government-run insurance program in the House bill — saying recent attempts by the health insurance industry to undercut reform prove insurers can’t be trusted.

And in the Senate, a weekly policy lunch turned into a heated debate when liberals went after the Senate Finance Committee bill and made clear they won’t roll over for legislation that doesn’t include a public option.

See also Brian Beutler, who says Harry Reid is working an “inside game” in support of the public option.

The Washington Insider gasbags keep telling us that the public option is dead and that the health care bill will pass without it. Yet it refuses to die. Paul Krugman explains how the insurance industry is helping keep progressive reform alive.