The story that hasn’t been told enough is that the rising cost of private insurance is hurting corporate America. It’s been a terrible strategic mistake. Progressives could have a powerful ally in the fight against Big Insurance/PhRMA: Corporate America itself.

Consider that even Wal-Mart, which spends far less than its peers just to offer it’s employees a junk insurance package, spent an average of $3,500 a year per employee on health insurance in 2002. The way to beat UnitedHealth Care and Blue Blue Cross is by offering Wal-Mart a public plan that is cheaper, yet offers better benefits: Medicare for Anyone Who Wants It.

Allowing any person, business or local/state agency to buy into Medicare is not single-payer, because it allows private insurance to continue to operate. But unlike the other falsely-advertised “robust public options,” Medicare for Anyone Who Wants It will actually lead to a public plan that covers at least 164 million Americans and will control cost. It makes real the false rhetoric for the public option.