U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, told a Des Moines town hall forum on Sunday that some kind of government-run health care option is needed.

Boswell had been hesitant to support a public option in health care reform legislation previously, telling a crowd in Sigourney earlier this month that he still hasn’t decided whether he could support a government competitor to private insurance companies.

A week and a half later, it appears Boswell has warmed up to the idea, reports Radio Iowa’s Kay Henderson:

“I’ve come to the conclusion over these last several years that we need some kind of a public option,” Boswell said, to applause and cheers — and a few jeers from others in the crowd who don’t share his opinion. “I also realize that it’s got to be constructed very carefully.”

Boswell, a member of the fiscally conservative “Blue Dogs” in the U.S. House, had said previously that a public option could “be something I can’t vote for.”