Health care reform

First, a few relevant facts:

1.  No one is proposing a "government take-over of health care."  At least none of the bills in Congress with traction are proposing this.

2.  The bill passed by the House includes a public option.  This would be a non-profit health insurance plan run by the government.  People who need insurance could choose this option, or they could choose a plan offered by a private, for-profit health insurance company.  Nobody would be required to drop the coverage they currently have and take the government option.  People would pay premiums for the government option, and those who could not afford the premiums might qualify for financial assistance from the government.

3.  There are no "death panels" in any of the bills pending in Congress.  This is something that Caribou Barbie made up to scare people.

4.  Under our current system, most health insurance companies operate in order to earn a profit for their executives and shareholders.  This is why they exist.  They do not exist in order to provide health care.  That is simply the product they sell in order to make money.

5.  Under current federal law, health insurance companies are exempt from the anti-trust laws.  This means that they are legally permitted to operate as monopolies.  They do not have to compete with one another.  They can divvy up the states amongst themselves in order to avoid competition, pick and choose their "customers" and charge whatever they want.  The reason that federal law prohibits monopolies in nearly every other industry is because they are bad for consumers.

6.  The purpose of the public option is two-fold:  (a) to offer a low-cost insurance option for people who currently do not have insurance because they can't afford it; and (b) to create competition among health insurance companies. 

Now a few opinions on these facts (in the same order):

1.  The people who shout about a "government take-over of health care" are either ill-informed or are deliberately trying to deceive the ill-informed.  Read the bill, or at least read some unbiased summary of the bill.  Don't take Rush or Sarah's word for anything, or Rachel or Ed's either, for that matter.

2.  I'm going to say it again, a little louder:  NOBODY WILL MAKE YOU GIVE UP YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE AND GO ON THE PUBLIC PLAN.  The estimates on what percentage of the American public would initially be on the public plan are in the single digits.

3.  Sarah is a liar and a dingbat, and she has set back the opportunities for women in national politics by decades.  She is dangerous and must be stopped.

4.  This is immoral, and America should be ashamed that this is what we offer our citizens.

5.  I think that changing the anti-trust laws to remove the exemption for health insurance companies is a good idea too, but it would have to be done in combination with added regulation of the insurance companies and the addition of a public option in order to make a real difference.

6.  If there's a lower-cost, high-quality option, don't you think most people would choose that?  When the insurance companies start losing customers to the government plan, maybe they'll decide to lower their rates and provide a better product with better service in order to attract customers.

Last but not least, a suggestion:

If you oppose the health care reforms currently being considered, do some real research before you open your mouth.  You don't sound very smart when you say, "Well, I talked to a European yesterday, and s/he was totally laughing at us for being so dumb as to consider a European-style government takeover of health care."  (One hint why this doesn't sound smart:  Europe is not a country.)