Paul Krugman lets us all know that the so called “public option” is a bridge to single-payer. Well, thanks for the honesty Paul:

If the federal government wanted to promote competition in order to lower health insurance costs, one would think nixing regulation that makes interstate health insurance markets costly would be the first order of business. Firms in each state are protected from interstate competition by the federal McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, which grants states the right to regulate health plans within their borders. (1) With fifty different sets of regulations across the nation, an insurance company licensed in one state, attempting to operate in another, usually becomes too costly. This results in de facto health insurance oligopolies in every state.

If the feds still wanted to reduce the number of uninsured Americans after a competitive national health insurance market was liberated, then we could talk. With a debt-ridden, cash-strapped government, would there be a more cost-effective and efficient means of insuring more people? If so, I’m all ears. As other articles have pointed out on SwiftEconomics.com, no public policy will ever insure every American; even when obtaining health insurance, through the private sector or a public option, is mandated by government.

_____________________________________________________________________________

(1) Interstate Competition in the Individual Health Insurance Marketplace – Healthcare.ncpa.org, retrieved December 2nd, 2009, http://healthcare.ncpa.org/commentaries/interstate-competition-in-the-individual-health-insurance-marketplace