In fact, after complaining that Medicare/Medicaid would lead to socialism in America during the 1960s, all 50 states have chosen to participate in the Medicaid program -- a jointly funded venture between the states and the federal government, which gives states the option to opt out. "Every state has been in Medicaid since 1982. None have ever dropped out," Turtle Bay writes on Daily Kos. "True, Arizona wasn't in until 1982, but that's partly because for a state to get in, they had to actually set up a program." The stimulus is another example:

And the stimulus -- probably the best example of all, even though it isn't clear that the states had any actual authority to opt-out. We saw the usual gang of idiots saying they were going to reject the stimulus, or in one case, actually attempt to do so over the objections of his state legislature. And what happened? We've got Bobby Jindal carting around oversized stealth stimulus checks to promote himself...

Think Progress

I am convinced that most people do not know that if they have employer-based health insurance they would not be eligible to enroll in the "public" plan, even if that plan would save them money and provide better coverage, and be totally portable.

Can you imagine having a "public" transportation system that only those without vehicles would be allowed to use?  Me, either.  But that's essentially what the public option plan would do, and I think most people are not aware of that, mostly because it's rarely mentioned.

And it's not going to be pretty when everyone figures it out.

But if you ask them about the individual parts of the plan, they will support them.

That's often the case. In the past, polls have shown that when people are asked about issues, not politicians or parties, they agree more with Democratic positions than Republicans. But in the distorted world of campaigning and media reporting, people don't actually vote based on the actual positions.

Even if Democrats pass health reform with a public option, it won't be up and running until 2013. Former Gov. Howard Dean suggested that Democrats should open up eligibility to Medicare for people over age 50 so that a "`certain mass' of people will already have benefit from health reform" by the 2010 elections. link

Dean recommend having people sign up for this program by July 2010.

We have spent the better part of this year fighting for health reform that would provide insurance access and continuity to every American in a fiscally responsible manner," the 30 Democratic Senators wrote in the Oct. 8 letter. "We are concerned that -- absent a competitive and continuous public insurance option -- health reform legislation will not produce nationwide access and ongoing cost containment. For that reason, we are asking for your leadership on ensuring that the merged health reform bill contains a public insurance option."

...

Senators signing the pro-public option letter included: Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Roland Burris (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Paul Kirk (D-Mass.).