Health Care BS

While it is gratifying to see the public option receive end-of-life counseling, the alternative now being floated by the White House and its congressional allies isn’t much better. Commenter terri points to a good post by Michael Tanner on insurance co-operatives:

Opponents of a government takeover of the health care system should not be fooled. Government-run health care is government-run health care no matter what you call it.

The difference between the public option and the kind of co-op the Dems are talking about is largely symbolic:

The health care “co-op” approach now embraced by the Obama administration will still give the federal government control over one-sixth of the U.S. economy, with a government-appointed board, taxpayer funding, and with bureaucrats setting premiums, benefits, and operating rules.

What worries me is the high probability that Blue Dog Dems and “moderate” Republicans will snatch at Obama’s faux concession and declare victory. Tanner explains why that would be a disaster:

Even without a public option, the bills in Congress would make Americans pay higher taxes and higher premiums, while government bureaucrats determine what insurance benefits they must have and, ultimately, what care they can receive.

Obamacare must be eradicated, root and branch. It’s not enough to let Obama’s crooked spinmasters to rebrand the same old crap sandwich. Our elected “representatives” need to offer the country genuine health care reform.