Classic bait and switch going on in Washington now as the public option appears headed for oblivion.To replace it, the White House is signaling that they would accept an even more unworkable, complicated, boondoggle; health insurance cooperatives.Robert Pear and Gardiner Harris writing in the New York Times: The White House has indicated that it could accept a nonprofit health care cooperative as an alternative to a new government insurance plan, originally favored by President Obama. But the co-op idea is so ill defined that no one knows exactly what it would look like or how effectively it would compete with commercial insurers. What is certain is that, as a substitute for a government plan, the co-op concept disappoints many liberals and stirs little enthusiasm among insurers or Republican lawmakers. And as the White House signaled its flexibility, a contentious debate over the merits of a public plan versus co-ops began playing out in the Democratic Party. Aides to Mr. Obama...(Read Full Post)