haha..........the GOP generally doesn't get free choice on anything!!!
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From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 12:41 PM
Subject: {Dawgs/Dittos} Why are Republicans scared of competition?
The GOP can't stomach the prospect of American consumers having free
choice over their healthcare programs.
By David Sirota
March 14, 2009 | Despite the shock and awe of Democrats' melodramatic
press releases, nobody was genuinely 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 healthcare, things can become authentically confusing.
Anyone who remembers the 1993-94 healthcare 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 healthcare 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 Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in an archetypal Op-Ed titled
"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 revenue 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 healthcare than those 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.
The allegedly competition-loving GOP immediately stated its strong
opposition on the grounds that the initiative would begin "forcing free
market plans to compete with government-run programs," as congressional
Republicans lamented.
While Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., insisted that the GOP remains "committed to
common-sense solutions that promote competition," he said his party is
"concerned that if the government" is permitted to compete, "it will
eventually push out the private healthcare plans."
Hold on a second.
Don't Republicans insist that "competition solves healthcare?" Yes, ad
nauseam.
Haven't they been telling us that government programs are obviously
worse than private health insurance? Yes, again.
Then, don't they welcome a private-versus-public competition, believing
that the former will easily trump the latter? Well ... uh ... no.
As I said, this is truly perplexing.
In one breath, GOP Jekylls say government medical plans will be
inefficient, inferior to private insurance, and thus hated by Americans.
In another breath, Republican Hydes effectively admit that government
programs would be so efficient, superior to private insurance, and loved
by Americans that they will attract more consumers and dominate a
healthcare competition.
Of the two assertions, of course, the latter is closer to the truth --
and the GOP knows it.
Republican lawmakers received the new Commonwealth Fund report showing
that a public system would save consumers $2 trillion through reduced
premiums and lower administrative costs. They see surveys showing that
the country overwhelmingly wants the government to create a public
health program -- and they know if given a choice, many Americans will
opt into that program rather than swim with the private insurance
sharks.
Republicans can't simply acknowledge these truisms, however, because
doing so would undermine the insurance industry that's filling their
campaign coffers. So instead, we get pro-competition,
government-is-ineffective "conservatives" working to thwart competition
and implicitly admitting they believe the government will be too
effective.
Yes, when it comes to competition, Republicans were for it before they
were against it. And this time, that confounding flip-flop doesn't
merely threaten a bumbling presidential candidate, it imperils a
healthcare revolution.
© 2009 Creators Syndicate Inc.
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