Competition Prescription

In respoonse to 'Competition Prescription' TribLive letter from Jay Lynch on 8/17/2009.

Do your apples taste like oranges?

I have heard this argument many times n the last few weeks, and it seems no one ever challenges the basic premise! Fedex would not be able to compete with the post office if it were treated as private insurers will be under proposed legislation. If the government told Fedex when to ship, where to ship, and how much to charge; there is no way it could compete! Yet this argument has been applied to healthcare?

Government intervention is the current leader in responsibility for escalating healthcare costs; so, by all means, let's have more!

~~Original~~
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about health care reform. But why are insurance companies saying they can't possibly compete with a taxpayer-subsidized insurance program?

Is FedEx unable to compete with the taxpayer-subsidized U.S. Postal Service? Have taxpayer-subsidized Penn State and Pitt driven CMU and Allegheny College out of business?

If a government program will be designed and administered by idiots, what are the insurance companies afraid of? Putting the government plan out of business should be easy. But perhaps competition from a federal plan may force them to reduce their administrative costs (including executive compensation), prevent them from altering physician/patient decisions, and end offensive and immoral practices such as "rescission of coverage" when a policyholder becomes seriously ill.

Let's put our faith in free enterprise by adopting a taxpayer-funded plan and challenging private insurers to put it out of business.

Jay Lynch