When Senate Democratic leaders agreed this week to remove a public insurance plan from their massive healthcare bill, they did more than quash a liberal dream of expanding the government safety net. They effectively pinned their hopes of guaranteeing coverage to all Americans on a far more conventional prescription: government regulation.
The change sprang from a compromise made to placate conservative Democrats wary of a new government program. But shorn of a “public option,” the Senate healthcare bill has reverted to a long-established practice of leveraging government power to police the private sector, rather than compete with it.
Despite the resistance among Republicans and conservatives to more government regulation, even the insurance industry has agreed to broad new oversight of their business in exchange for the prospect of gaining millions of new customers.
Seems to me that Gov. Dean is right in attacking this bill as an insurance companies dream. First, it is mandated that everyone must have insurance which forces millions of people to buy insurance from them. Second, even though the insurance companies will not be able to turn down an applicant on preexisting conditions, age, etc., there are no caps on what they can charge extra for writing policies for these policies, so they will be able to charge so much for such policies that no one will be able to buy them unless the government kicks in to pay the extra with your and my money. A sweet deal for the insurance industry. Sort of like the bailout of the Goldman Sachs of the world.
Sorry, this should have said – there are no caps on what they can charge extra for writing these policies, so they will – .