The latest fight in the Senate battle on health care is over whether or not to include a so-called “public option” in any health care reform bill. And U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman announced his support for the public option today via his Facebook page.

Bingaman wrote on his Facebook page earlier today:

I strongly support a public plan. The most critical elements of such a plan are that it would be established/ overseen by the federal government and made available to all Americans.

The primary purpose is to ensure that there is at least one option for Americans that is affordable and would provide meaningful care. By leveraging competition, a public plan would also safeguard against unscrupulous insurances practices.

A Bingaman spokesman told the same thing to the blog Firedoglake yesterday.

In short, the public option would give consumers a choice of whether to sign up for a governmental health care policy or to keep their own private policy.