Why private insurance cannot survive the public option

And no, it's not for the reasons you think.

The Republican line on the Public Option is that it will crowd out Private Insurance carriers because they won't be able to compete against an entity that can print its own money and has access to a potentially unlimited pool of tax dollars.

This is, in a word, horseshit. On this point at least, President Obama and I agree. And frankly, if the Republicans are going to push the idea that the free market will save the economy and not government intervention, then they should try to show a little more confidence in that free market... don't you think?

The American free market is the best in the world and we can compete with anyone, anywhere, anytime... sure would be nice to hear someone on the Republican side say this every now and then.

Now it IS true that the government plan will be cheaper... it will, in fact, be free (as much as anything that drains money out of your paycheck in the form of taxes CAN be free anyway). And it's pretty hard to compete on price when one side provides the service for free... but private companies will always be able to compete on quality.

We all know that when Obama says there will be no rationing and no lines under Obamacare, that he is absolutely 100% full of shit. We KNOW it. And I for one have no intention of ever turning over my health care needs to a government agency. I will always go out and pay for quality care delivered when and how I want, by a profit-driven company, on my terms...and million of my fellow Americans will join me.

We already have a precedent for this... it's called education. Government provided education in America sucks and gets suckier with each passing day. Millions of American families are willing to spend outrageous amounts of money to send their kids to private schools even though at the same time, their tax dollars are taken from them to pay for a free Public Option.

They choose quality over price every single time.

And they will do the same for Health Care.

Imagine the TV spots...

"Tired of waiting for six hours in the cinderblock lobby of the Bureau of Social Health Issues to see a doctor who graduated at the bottom of his class at the Rocko Clubbo School of Medicine? Log on to KaiserPermanente.net and take a look at all the high quality plans we offer. We guarantee you'll see a doctor within 30 minutes or your visit is free."

Which is why Obama simply cannot, and will not, allow private iunsurance companies to continue to offer high quality private plans.

Because when the stories of six hour waits and denials of procedures start to leak out, and they will, people will freak out... millions will leave the public option for private plans and those who remain will, by definition, be the poorest and sickest among us who cannot afford to leave a lower quality, though free, public service.

But in this world where quality healthcare has been re-defined as a "right", what does it mean if the wealthy can get great high quality convenient care on their own terms while the poor are corralled into cattle call waiting rooms for substandard care?

It won't happen. It CAN'T happen. It is the entire promise of Obamcare... that no one will be better off than anyone else.

And that's why private insurance companies must be eliminated. As long as they exist, Americans who work hard and are successful will refuse to allow themselves to be forced into a government definition of "equality."

And we can't have that, can we?