The disingenuous healthcare march towards socialized medicine
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has now announced that the health care legislation he is drafting will include a government-run health insurance plan, or so-called “public option”. At least the most liberal of the liberals out there are being honest about this, and are for it because it will lead to a single-payer system. But most of the Democrats that support this are saying its purpose is to “increase competition” and “keep the insurance companies honest.”
Politicians saying they want to keep someone else honest. That would be pretty funny, if it weren’t so deceitful and tragic.
In most states there are currently hundreds of health insurance plans available. In some states with restrictive regulations there are very few. A very simple way to increase competition would be to allow people in those states (such as Maine, NY, NJ, and others) to buy coverage across state lines. However, those politicians who claim to be for more competition don’t like this kind of competition.
The latest iteration of the government-run health insurance plan would give states the right to opt-out, as long as they pass legislation doing so within a year of the new law taking effect. But since the government plan will be subsidized with your tax dollars, states that opt out would simply be forced to subsidize the states that opt in.
Olympia Snowe, the only Republican to vote for the Senate Finance committee bill, favors a government-sponsored plan that is only “triggered,” once certain conditions are met. This would simply delay things until conditions are even worse, an inevitable result of the proposed legislation.
For example, if 95% of Americans don’t have adequate health insurance coverage by a certain date, the public option would be triggered. Since the result of the proposed legislation will be increasing premiums, it is almost a certainty that 95% of Americans will not have the coverage that is required and defined under this bill.
The very best option at this point, as I’ve said before, is to shelve it all and start over. A market based solution that includes the expansion of Health Savings Accounts, tort reform, and allowing people to purchase health insurance across state lines is what we need. Not the every increasing expansion of government.