Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee wants to create a state-run health insurance plan to compete against private coverage on the Evergreen State’s Obamacare exchange. This plan, known as a “public option,” is a terrible idea. It’d be a boondoggle for taxpayers and open the door to a future single-payer system.

Inslee claims a public option would increase consumers’ coverage options and “start bringing down costs.” But history proves that such a system would fail. A provision in the Affordable Care Act created CO-OPs, nonprofit health insurers run by their customers, which operated much like a public option. But they couldn’t compete with private insurers, who had years of experience and a profit incentive to provide appealing coverage options. Nineteen of the original 23 CO-OPs collapsed.