David Sirota: For Competition Before They Were Against It

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



For Competition Before They Were Against It

Posted on Mar 12, 2009
By David Sirota


Despite the shock and awe of Democrats’ melodramatic press releases, nobody was genuinely bewildered or surprised by the recent McClatchy newspaper headline screaming that “GOP lawmakers tout projects in the stimulus bill they opposed.” We all know that politicians love to brag about bringing home the bacon—even the bacon they vote against.

Far more baffling are those same politicians contradicting their entire foundational philosophy. When that starts happening, as it is in the debate over health care, things can become authentically confusing.

Anyone who remembers the 1993-94 health care fights knows that Republicans have long asserted that private insurance is more efficacious and more adored by patients than government-run programs like Medicare. To solve the health care crisis, those on the right say we must foster more price-cutting, efficiency-producing competition. “The American people know that innovation, choice, and competition work,” wrote GOP Sen. Tom Coburn (Okla.) in an archetypal Op-Ed entitled “Competition Solves Health Care.”

Give conservatives credit here: At minimum, this argument had a logic to it, however flawed. Sure, it is belied by data—The Urban Institute reports that private insurers spend up to 30 percent of their revenues on administrative costs (read: salaries, paperwork, etc.) while government programs spend just 5 percent, and polls show Medicare recipients are far more satisfied with their health care than patients in the private system. But, in nonetheless claiming that the private sector will always outperform the government, Republicans at least presented an ideologically coherent (if fantastically inaccurate) hypothesis.

That all changed, though, when Democrats this week began pushing to let citizens buy into a government-sponsored health plan similar to the one federal lawmakers enjoy. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090312_for_competition_before_they_were_against_it/

[byeya]

1. I think the health care choices are:

{1} Medicare for all, phased in as quickly as possible
{2} Allow citizens to buy into the health plans open to federal employees with the government picking up a share of the cost as with federal employees.