At a news conference with medical experts, Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday emphasized the need for the House to follow the Senate’s lead and pass his plan for a "market-driven" approach to finding affordable health coverage for the uninsured.

The House will consider a bill (HB 7081) that mixes Crist’s "Cover Florida" proposal with its own separate program that includes a $1-million appropriation for a new corporation, Florida Health Choices, to manage the new initiative. Crist said the corporation is unnecessary but declined to say whether he would veto the bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Aaron Bean, whether it reached

"I’m all for oversight," Crist said. "I’m not certain we need to spend an additional million dollars to do what they can do very well themselves."

UPDATE: House Speaker Marco Rubio says the goal is to pass a bill with both Crist’s ideas and Bean’s. In what sounded like a dig at Crist’s sign for his plan only, Rubio said: "that place always works better when it’s a two-way street. So that’s what we’re going to try to achieve in the final two weeks of session."

Original post by Steve Bousquet