Health care is a moral issue first, economic second. Here’s what conservatives must do to win the battle for our health care.
Every year, Republicans try to kill health insurance reform, but so far they’ve failed:
— Senate Republicans refused to invoke the filibuster to stop the public option.
— President Bush vetoed the bill.
— Senate Democrats are still fighting and have enough seats to kill the bill in September.
— House Republicans are losing seats.
Now, to the Republicans’ argument: we need a public option so the insurance companies have to compete with themselves. But they’re wrong. We need a public option so the insurance companies won’t have to compete with themselves, but with the rest of us.
The insurance companies won’t be forced to compete. And as we’ll see, the reason is simple:
A Public Option Would Be Good For Our Country.
When the insurance companies get forced to compete with us, we get the best health insurance in the world:
The insurance companies have found a workaround: they claim medical emergencies aren’t really emergencies. But in the real world, when you can’t find your keys or gas station key in the morning, you call 911. When you can’t get the doctor’s appointment you’ve requested because you don’t have the money, you call the clinic. And then when you can’t find the doctor, you go to the emergency room. And when you can’t get the treatment you need, you go to the hospital. When you are suddenly and unexpectedly sick with cancer, you go to the doctor.
The insurance companies are trying to force us to lose control over our health care decisions. But if they had to compete with us, they’d lose.
But a public option would let us hold the insurance company accountable. The insurance companies want to compete with us because it keeps down costs. The insurance companies want to compete with us because they need to make money. And the one thing we don’t need is the profit motive.
We need the government to create the incentives that would let us run our health care system efficiently and effectively. The insurance companies want to compete with us to keep costs down, but they would not do so if the government forced them to.
But a public option would not create the incentives that would let us run our health care system efficiently and effectively.