Premiums aren’t dropping as predicted in Washington state’s first-in-the-nation experiment with offering health insurance plans based on Medicare rates.

Five insurers are offering 15 so-called public option plans for 2021, but their average proposed premium for 2021 is higher than what the state’s consumers typically paid for traditional Obamacare policies in 2020.

Billy Wynne of the Colorado-based Public Option Institute, which receives funding from Arnold Ventures, says RAND’s conclusion that lower premiums will not expand coverage makes perfect sense considering the designs they presented.

But Wynne also emphasizes that researchers presumed providers would be willing to participate in the option.

Through a string of presidential debates, the idea of a public option has been championed by moderate Democrats ― such as former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Joe Biden ― as an alternative to a single-payer "Medicare for All" model. Those center-left candidates again touted the idea during Tuesday's Democratic debate in South Carolina, with Buttigieg arguing such an approach would deliver universal care without the political baggage.

Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate and a Democratic governor eager to push aggressive health care measures have turned Colorado into one of the foremost health policy laboratories in the country.

State lawmakers took swift action on many of the same health issues being debated at the federal level, including a government-run health plan known as a public option, surprise medical billing, drug importation and high drug costs.

For Democratic presidential candidates contemplating sweeping health-care overhauls, what happens in Colorado over the next few months will be instructive. Lawmakers in Denver are preparing to vote on a state-sponsored health plan that would compete with private insurance and offer lower premiums. Its approval could embolden Democrats eyeing the White House.

Both a national Medicare-for-all plan and a government-administered public option continue to garner majority support in the KFF Health Tracking Polls, including large shares of Democrats who express positive attitudes towards both proposals. Yet, the public option holds the advantage over a national Medicare-for-all plan when supporters of both are forced to choose one. The public option garners more support among many key groups in the 2020 Democratic primary including swing voters (49% v. 25%).

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis Thursday urged a group of health care consumers and nonprofit members to lobby heavily for a proposed health care public option, saying well-heeled organizations have lined up to scuttle the government-sponsored plan.

“Your advocacy will help us bring this health plan to Colorado,” Polis told the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. “The other side has powerful special interests and lobbyists. We face some stiff opposition. But you can help fight them and give Colorado more choice in their health care.”

Employers who sponsor health benefits for millions of Americans face rising healthcare costs and the uncertainty of pending surprise medical billing and drug pricing legislation and the presidential election. As a result, almost 34% of purchasers indicated that a Medicare public option could be a helpful reform for their employer health and wellbeing strategies, while another 29% were neutral. These are among the findings of an employer survey conducted by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance).

Health care was voters’ top issue in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and it benefitted Sen. Bernie Sanders as well as his more moderate rivals.

The big picture: Sanders has emerged as a national front-runner thanks in part to a base that’s deeply committed to his Medicare for All plan, even as polling data indicate that more moderate ideas like a public option have a broader base of support.

Billy Wynne, the founder of Wynne Health Group consulting firm, created the Public Option Institute to study the implementation of public insurance options in Washington and Colorado. Wynne established himself as a presence in the public option debate with two series in Health Affairs after Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act failed. The new institute is formed with funding from the billionaire couple John and Laura Arnold, who have taken an interest in advancing policy to lower healthcare costs. Wynne is based in Denver and has advised on Colorado's public option plan in a personal capacity, separate from his work with the institute.