Orszag Promotes Co-ops And Trigger, Ignores CBO Report

In an interview with Bloomberg.com, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag talked about his support for Co-ops and Triggers.

Orszag signaled the administration doesn’t consider a government-run insurance program essential to the legislation. He suggested it would be sufficient to either create nonprofit insurance-purchasing cooperatives or set “triggers” to activate a public option if needed to cut costs...“The goal here is just to introduce more competition where competition is inadequate,” Orszag said. “Either one could work.”

Orszag's statement directly contradicts a CBO report that says,

[The co-ops] seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country or to noticeably affect federal subsidy payments.

I guess former CBO director Peter Orszag now also backs the new Conrad CBO Standard. He must share the belief that whatever the CBO determines is incredibly important unless they disagree with Senator Kent Conrad.