Wouldn't it make more sense to increase the Medicaid eligibility than to spend trillions on a public option?

Increasing the Medicaid threshold so that lower middle cl people who aren't currently eligible for Medicaid or the uninsurable with pre-existing conditions can enroll with Medicaid. That way we don't risk undermining or crowding-out private insurers with an ill-conceived public option. Seriously, if the government took the approach they're taking with healthcare reform and applied it to the energy sector or automobile sector then we'd be practically living in an Eastern Bloc economy before we knew it. I can't imagine buying gasoline from the Feds or a government-made automobile.