Public option will cost more than private insurance?

Could Ezra Klein be correct?  My head spins (metaphorically speaking) from reading up about healthcare reform! Klein writes (citing the CBO's report):

the public plan will pay prices equivalent to those of private insurers and may save a bit of money on administrative efficiencies. But because the public option is, well, public, it won't want to do the unpopular things that insurers do to save money, like manage care or aggressively review treatments. It also, presumably, won't try to drive out the sick or the unhealthy. That means the public option will spend more, and could, over time, develop a reputation as a good home for bad health risks, which would mean its average premium will increase because its average member will cost more. The public option will be a good deal for these relatively sick people, but the presence of sick people will make it look like a bad deal to everyone else, which could in turn make it a bad deal for everyone else.

The nightmare scenario, then, is that private insurers cotton onto this and accelerate the process, implicitly or explicitly guiding bad risks to the public option

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (HT)