After I completed reading your post, I realized that, inadvertently, you have done a most convincing job of making the case for the public option, which, as you described, will provide far more secure and comprehensive coverage than the private plans.

You’ve got me convinced.

I’ve emailed your post to everyone I know, and to various public servants.

Take care and thanks again.

Do you think it would not be good to crowd out private insurance? A very committed family practitioner I spoke to last week when asked about national health care reform, said she is not hopeful about the new reform discussion. She said we need to start over. For example, establish limits on specialty medical training, stop pharmacy companies from advertising on TV. Family practice is dying a slow death in USA.

From my 40 years of comparing national health care delivery systems, the Canadians are far happier with their system than USA citizens, and private insurance companies do not play a significant role in their system. Canada delivers more care to more people per dollar spent than USA does, and rationing of care is far less than in the USA and access to care is much higher than in the USA.

Corporate America is beginning to understand this and the single payer model may not be too far away. It may be done one State at a time. The decline of GM is one step perhaps toward a single payer system.

A rarity is that John Goodman’s article is confusing. It ignores the fact that Medical Advantage is massive CMS subsidies to HMOs. This is giving money to corporate socialism as in, “give us your money and we will take care of you.”

Politicians (and some of our conservative bretheran think that HMOs are private free enterprise, when they are no more than command and control socialism for the medical microeconomic sector.

Trying to control inflation created by politically susbidized tax-free insurance using command and control corporations has already failed. Too bad that socialism always fails and can’t be fixed. The Medicare Advantage program is a good example. Massive corporate welfare checks from CMS has not and will not work. The Medicare Advantage program is the paradigm for the administration and congressional “public plan”.

So time to preach to the choir. The answer is to return power in the medical delivery and insurance market to patients and families. HSA/HDHP insurance-is the way out of our dilemmas, but I fear it is on the congresional chopping block now that the public sector HOA pilot program was successfully killed last February.

In the state of Washington, 2006, Mr. Mike McGavick(R) ran against Sen. Maria Cantwell(D). Mr. McGavick had been the “… Chairman, President and CEO of (the) Safeco Corp. from 2001-2005″ when he resigned to make his senatorial run in 2006.

During the campaign he cited his ability to “… make the tough decisions…” and to bring the same success to the State as he had brought to Safeco. He bragged that he had decreased Safeco’s pay-outs from premiums from 89% to 61%.

Few of the public know that in the 70’s it was ILLEGAL for an Insurer to make ANY PROFIT from insurance premiums: they had to be payed out at the end of the fiscal year or used to lower premiums in the next. They received 300%, l think, tax breaks on funds overpaid.

Point is, private Insurers are in the business of NOT insuring people against loss: they’re in the business of taking as HIGH a premium as possible and paying out as LITTLE as possible.

60,000,000. ALL of them avoid doctor offices…. but how many are suffering needlessly, dying needlessly and now, with the USA on the verge of an epidemic / pandemic, spreading disease needlessly because they can’t afford— can’t pay— to see a Physician?

And you want to eliminate Public Health Care?

We saw the results of Neo-Con administrations the last 8-years.
ONLY the top 10% had any growth in their lifestyles and most of THAT was garnered by the top 5%. The rest of us realized a little growth, with the majority, 65%, actually losing ground.

And now, like MR. Goodman, they want more profit with less risk.

Informed parents can get HSA insurance on their child for less than $50 a month in most states. The coverage pays 100% after the deductilbe to $5 million including Rx and preventative. If the government wanted competition they could deposit the $2,000 into the child’s tax free HSA.

Competition to the so-called private employer-based health insurance plans will distroy them. President Obama said the new government-based plan will be portable. Portability alone will kill employer-based plans. It’s about time employer-based plans stopped terminating coverage on employees that are too sick to work 30 hours per week.

If you are on employer-based insurance get ready to kiss your plan goodbye. The government plan will simply be too much competion. The cataclysmic collapse of an industry is at hand.

Thanks for writing this informative article.
I have been researching the history of Social Security.

In particular, the House and Senate debates are very interesting.

A similar question was asked when the congress was debating the merits of Social Security and unemployment insurance.

Was it appropriate, or even constitutional, for the federal government to get into the insurance business?

Apparently, the way around this obstacle of constitutionality was to place the payroll taxes and appropriations for the benefits in two separate titles (in regards to Social Security).

In this way, the funding could be done with the left hand, and the appropriating with the right hand, and neither hand would know what the other is doing.

And, since the congress does have the power to levy taxes and appropriate benefits, Social Security would be in a similar position to that of defense appropriations (and others): promoting the general welfare.

Thus, the Supreme Court should have no objection to Social Security, for congress has as much authority to pass Social Security, as it does to fund any other general governmental expenses.

I look forward to learning of any comments you may have.