As the health care debate rages on, one cannot help but notice that the focal point of scrutiny is on the ‘Public Option’. The Obama administration wants to have a public health care option administered by the government. The President quickly defends this option by stating that nobody will be required to enroll in this option and that the private option will be available. Technically, this is true, nobody will be forced into the public option, but the hidden truth is that private health programs will dwindle and die, and the only option left would be the hand-out the government is offering. The public option is a masked step in the direction of socialized medicine.

The public and private option will compete, driving down prices. This statement would be true if the rules were applied equally to both plans. Currently, private plans negotiate prices with doctors and hospitals. A public plan can set the price they will pay doctors and hospitals, no negotiation, allowing the public option to easily undercut private plans. Hospitals and doctors will not be allowed to refuse service to those with a public option. Additionally, private insurance is taxed by the state, a public option would not be. Private insurance companies have to balance their books to account for future costs, a public option would not have to (simply raise taxes, or borrow from the customer, the American people). There is no competition between the public and private option, the Federal Government will run the game on their own set of rules.

The Government wont take a profit, saves everybody money! Saving money is not in the government’s vocabulary. Social Security is bleeding money all over the place. Medicaid and Medicare are a financial disaster. The United States Postal Service is losing billions of dollars a year and are having to buy out employees to save money (General Motors had to do that too, and they still filed for bankruptcy). Of course, the government will not take a profit. Most likely, there will not be any, and they will actually need to borrow money (or raise taxes) to sustain itself.

The Government will run the program more efficiently and all will be well! The Government has never been able to fund a program by saving money and running efficiently in some other program. It has never happened and it does not exist. See United States Postal Service example above. Nowhere in the constitution does it say the government will run efficiently or even attempt to run efficiently, so why would they? There is no motivation for the government to run efficiently. Efficiency is doing more with less. Nobody in their right mind would believe the government means to use less, less money, less people, or less time. The government is all about MORE. The government is not structured to run efficiently, don’t expect it to.

Companies will still subsidize employee’s private health care insurance! Yea right! Companies are all about the bottom line. The argument here is that it saves companies money by dropping private health insurance options. Sure they will have to pay an added tax, but it is still cheaper than picking up more than half the tab for private insurance for each employee. Companies will already see their taxes raised to pay for the stinking public option, they might as well see employee’s use it.
Any public health option run by the government will squeeze out private health insurance. The availability to have multiple options will be taken from the American people due to the unfair market created by the public option. True health reform is not accomplished by creating another system, that is not reform. That is simply adding another widget. True reform will be in the form of increased private health insurance options and competition between private health insurance plans. However, that will have to wait for the next post.