Arlen Specter really is acting like a Democrat now!

Sure, it’s pandering. But I’ll take it:

Sen. Arlen Specter told a boisterous crowd of union activists today that he backs a public health insurance option as part of the health care overhaul Congress is debating.

“I know you are very interested in the public component and I think Senator Schumer has the right idea about having a public component,” Specter said at a rally held at the Capitol City Brewery near Union Station.

The shift — Specter opposed a public option only months ago — comes as Specter faces a potential primary opponent next spring in U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and as a new poll shows his favorability rating at a 17-year low.

The public option, as it happens, is the subject of my Scripps Howard column this week with Ben Boychuk. My take:

Competition is good, right? The fiercest defenders of the free market — mostly the same people who oppose health care reform — endlessly sing the praises of competition and its benefits for consumers. Well, that’s what a “public option” health plan would do: Provide competition for the bloated and costly health insurance bureaucracy that leaves many Americans without any coverage.

A government-run insurance plan would have advantages over its private competition. There would be lower administrative costs, no profit pressures and a ton of leverage to negotiate lower costs from health care providers. Not only would that lower the cost of health care to more affordable levels for the government’s customers, private insurers might follow suit and provide cheaper service for their customers — a ripple effect that would benefit everybody who pays for health care.

Sure, there are dangers. The government might be so stingy with its payments that some hospitals would be forced out of business. The government might be too good a competitor and drive private insurers into bankruptcy. Or a public option plan might end up with only the very sick and very oldest Americans — the most expensive customers — that private insurers would like to drop from their balance sheets. That wouldn’t be so great for taxpayers who would end up footing the bill.

So there’s no guarantee a public option would be a cure-all for the health system. But a public plan is an excellent way to leave private insurers in place — no socialism here — while still extending insurance to the millions of Americans who currently cannot afford proper care. That’s the reason our health system needs reform. Until the Republicans — or the free market — come up with something better, a public option appears to be the best way forward.

Ben, on the other hand, sees only doom ahead.