State-run health plans garner support

Some influential centrist Democrats in the Senate are warming to a compromise that envisions health insurance plans run by state governments. A new proposal by Sen. Tom Carper would spell out how to boost competition in the private insurance market by enacting government-run plans at the state level. States could act alone or in concert with others to gain more leverage in the marketplace, and would be bound by the same rules established for private companies using the national insurance exchange envisioned by the Senate Finance bill. Another option would entail states opening their workers' employee-benefit plans to the general public, the Wall Street Journal reports.