Originally Posted By: Kaiser D.
[quote=Keta]
Vic, I don't know why you already seem upset with the "Government" for considering providing a "government option". If you have a problem with going to that plan, your beef should be with your employer, not the government. They would be the one deciding. They could just as easily leave you in worse situation by choosing a different private plan. It seems that some people have a hard time believing that a private plan isn't NECESSARILY better than a "public plan". From what I can tell, the major jist of the plan is to basically create an ADDITIONAL insurance computer that would compete with the private industry. The concern from vested interests is that the public option would be subsidized, effectively unfairly outcompeting the existing private firms. Obama is arguing that a public option could effectively provide that same care for less money because profits (those are BIG TIME profits) would be put back into the system rather than having it go to shareholders.



I am not sure upset is quite the right word, more like really concerned. I don't disagree with you regarding my employer's choice of insurance companies, and your point about moving to a less desirable plan has already happened a number of times. But the reality is small companies who have limited buying power are some of the hardest hit when rates go up. Companies like mine are going to be the second domino that will fall after the un-insured. That might be fine, if I had confidence in government to effectively manage my health insurance, but the fact remains that Social security is projected to be bankrupt about the time I retire, medicare is projected to be gone before that, and welfare is getting scammed by the hundreds of millions.

While I have no love for insurance companies, I think todd's point about this being additional competition is ridiculous. They keep talking about providing a "level playing field" but private companies have constraints that they have to live by. When ever a government program fails, the first thing that happens is congress attempts to fix it by throwing more money at it, which almost never works.