A lot of people are getting behind Obama's plan to have the government offer health insurance. I just don't get it. So let's say there's now a public option.... First off, pretty much anyone with chronic illnesses is going to switch to the public option, because it will most likely be mandated to be cheaper. Then the government will soon find they don't have enough healthy people paying premiums to offset all the sick people on the plan, so they will come up with some sort of incentive that a private company is unable to offer, or they will find some other way to shift the law to get more healthy people on the plan. At the same time, to save on overhead headaches, companies will stop offering health plans to employees, and instead give us all 2.5% more pay or something like that. Since individual private insurance doesn't get the same tax breaks that employer-provided insurance and presumably government-offered insurance does, it won't make any fiscal sense for an individual not to be on the government plan at that point. And soon enough there will be no private option left. It comes down to this- no government plan can compete on a level playing field with private ones over the long term. So they won't have a level playing field, politicians and bureaucrats will tilt it in their favor.

Even if the government could conceivable do it better and cheaper, I still wouldn't want it. Why? Because I am not a ward of the state, I am a free man, and I do not want government officials, elected or otherwise, making decisions about my health care. Anyone who tells you the private sector shouldn't be scared, that as long as they are competitive they'll be ok, and if they aren't then why shouldn't we do the government plan is being naive. They are ignoring all the millions of incentives that this will create for politicians to make the government plan the only plan over time, and then we lose our freedom.

The current system is broken, but not because of the private sector. If you want to blame someone, blame wage controls put in place by the government in WWII. That's why employers started offering health plans, and why they got a tax break for doing so while individuals cannot get that same tax break. Give individuals the same tax break that businesses do for health insurance, and then you'll see the free market work it's magic.

To those of you who object that the free market only works if people are willing to spend the time to find the best service and the best doctors and the best prices so that competition will help the best and hurt the worst.... I say that your health care should be far too important to you to allow such choices to fall in to the hands of politicians or even your employer. I say you should be lobbying for health insurance tax breaks so that you have the freedom to find the best, and I say if you aren't willing to put in time and research to find the best solution for yourself, then you deserve the crappy care you will get from Obama's plan. It's pathetic that people are willing to spend hours upon hours shopping for shoes to match a new dress, but get upset at the idea of having to shop around for the best health care.

The problem with letting someone else decide on what health care is best is that they might be considering different factors than you, like price instead of quality, or speed instead of accuracy.