Subject:
A better compromise than triggers
To:
President Barack Obama
Sen. Richard Lugar
Sen. Evan Bayh
Rep. Dan Burton
October 31, 2009
Right now, the argument is over a govt-run insurance plan or none, and the compromise is a trigger. The problem with a trigger is that it would probably never actually happen.
How about this -- replace the govt-run public option with govt-seeded but privately run non-profit insurance plans, run similarly to credit unions, which would take effect immediately. The beauty of such "insurance unions" is that they would actually have to charge enough to meet expenses, thereby being fair competition for private insurance companies. The insurance unions would not, however, have to pay stockholders, and would probably not pay huge salaries to management, as the private insurance companies do. This would prove that high profit margins and big bonuses are not necessary to providing insurance. After all, it's not even an innovation sector, it's just shifting money around.
Private insurance companies would either compete fiercely, as retail bankers do with the credit unions, or go out of business and leave more customers for the insurance unions. It's all fair, it's all capitalist, and it prevents the practice of government forcing below-market payments on health care providers, as it does with Medicare. Insurance companies will still hate it, but anyone who's not merely protecting their own turf should be in favor of it.
Indianapolis , IN
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