End of the Public Option

It looks like the end of the so-called public option in the President’s healthcare reform package. While Obama continues to speak in generalities, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the following comment on CNN’s State of the Union: “I think there will be a competitor to private insurers. That’s really the essential part, is you don’t turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. We need some choices, we need some competition.”

This quote tells us a lot about how this administration views the economy. So what exactly is a “competitor to private insurers?” Why must the government get involved to have real competition? Insurance companies—like all private businesses—compete to provide the best products and services at the lowest prices. We could have more competition if Washington would take action to allow individuals to purchase their insurance from providers across state lines. We don’t need a government player in the market to do this.

And what’s this about trust? Are insurance providers untrustworthy? Are we supposed to “trust” the government to “do the right thing” when it comes to health insurance?

This is really quite simple. Private businesses MUST deliver the goods to survive. Those that perform well are rewarded with profit, while those that don’t meet customer needs lose money. Government-run businesses are not under this pressure, however. They can lobby for legislation to tilt the playing field in their favor when things aren’t going well. Or they can simply ask for more money from Congress, arguing that they exist to pursue the “public good” instead of profit.

Sebelius told us a lot in her statement. This administration views private businesses as evil capitalists who can’t be trusted, while only the government is capable of “doing the right thing.” But they’re missing the point. The profit incentive is not evil; it’s precisely what forces private businesses to meet the demands of the market. Remove the profit incentive and organizations can do as they wish without repercussions. This is why we need MORE private competition, NOT a government option.

The public option might be gone for now, but we must remember why it was there in the first place. The left’s preoccupation with destroying capitalism is still alive and well.

6 thoughts on “End of the Public Option

  1. there are so many things we could do to fix this problem but the dems only want the government plan. why do these guys hate capitalists so much?

    1. rfalwal: While the system may not be broken, there are things we can do to improve it. I proposed one alternative in an earlier post, but there are other good ideas as well. The bottom line is that conservatives need to be active in taking measures to enhance PRIVATE options. It’s easy to be labeled as not caring when you take a conservative approach that minimizes the role of government and requires people to take responsibility for their own coverage, but it’s possible to improve the system and protect liberty at the same time. We need to take the lead on this issue or the libs will eventually give us a socialist solution.

  2. Just look at the sectors of healthcare that are mostly not covered by any insurance – plastic surgery and lasik…not suprisingly the prices in those areas are actually staying even or declining the last i heard…people pay OOP and there is accountability…

    part of the problem with u.s. healthcare system today is not only are you paying for the usual poor, you are also paying for likely at least 25 million illegal aliens – double the number the govt wants to claim….just remember govt LIES when it suits their needs, and Obama and dems doing that right now in healthcare – just listen to some of his past speeches on the subject before he had any inkling that he’d have a shot at the presidency….

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