The battle for a national health insurance exchange

Good news (or good rumor) from E.J. Dionne on a likely outcome of Senate-House negotiations on health care reform:

Over the last week, I've been talking with key figures in the House, Senate and White House, and the outlines of a deal are becoming reasonably clear. The public option is, alas, dead. But the idea of setting up a national insurance exchange -- alongside state exchanges -- where the uninsured can purchase coverage is very much alive. The House is demanding this as the price for giving up on the public plan, and a national exchange would provide for much more consumer-friendly regulation of health insurance policies.

David Herszenhorn also reports that "House Democrats are pushing hard for a national insurance exchange, or marketplace, rather than the state exchanges proposed by the Senate."