President Obama on Monday called on Congress to revisit the controversial idea of providing a government-run insurance plan as part of the offerings under the Affordable Care Act.

What’s been described as the “public option” was jettisoned from the health law in 2009 by a handful of conservative Democrats in the Senate. Every Democrat’s vote was needed to pass the bill in the face of unanimous Republican opposition.

But in a “special communication” article published Monday on the website of JAMA, the American Medical Association’s top journal, the president says a lack of competition among insurance plan offerings in some regions may warrant a new look.

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