Time: A Check on Government Power?

What if government could only operate on certain days of the year?  Like March through June? Just a thought that popped into my brain today.

The Post Office as an Example of a ‘Public Option’

Here is a link to a nice little summary of using the U.S. Post Office as an example of the proposed “public option” in health-care.

One key point that deserves repeating, the U.S. postal service is a monopoly!

Intimidation on Election Day

Today is election day and a good time to think about intimidation in the democratic process of voting.  George F. Will has a recent article on it.  Do you think you have the right to vote your opinion in secret?  Does everyone else have a right to know how you cast your vote?

Some people don’t think you have right to privacy or a secret ballot.  Now what possible reason could they have for knowing your name and voting history?  Maybe they just want to “talk” it over with and “help” you change your mind.

Those Outrageous Health Insurance Profits

Supporters of a government run “public option” in health care insurance routinely claim private health insurance companies are making huge and unfair profits.  But is this true?

On the Fortune 500 list of top industries, health insurance companies ranked 35th in profitability in 2008; their overall profit margin was a mere 2.2 percent. They lagged far behind such industries as pharmaceuticals, which showed a profit margin of 19.3 percent, railroads (12.6 percent), and mining (11.5 percent). Among health insurers, the best performer last year was HealthSpring, which showed a profit of 5.4 percent. “That’s a less profitable margin,’’ AP noted, “than was achieved by the makers of Tupperware, Clorox bleach, and Molson and Coors beers.’’

It doesn’t look to me that health insurance companies are the reported profit boogie man.  Or at least, when can we expect calls for a “public option” for Tupperware?

My Periodic Course Correction

Occasionally, as with all imperfect people, I drift a bit off course.  Unfortunately some of this blog’s posts and at least one of my recent online comments have been overly critical, harsh or disrespectful.

I apologize.  I want this blog as well as my life to be respectful of others.  There is room for criticism, but not disrespect here.

Further and with humility, I do not pretend that I am without faults and failings.  Actually, I am often wrong.

Competition Double Standard in Health-Care and Education

In 2005, only 11% of U.S. students attended private elementary and secondary schools.  That means a whopping 89% of students made use of the “public option” in education.

Advocates of a “public option” in health-care are vocal about lack of competition in situations where one insurance provider has such a commanding share of the market.  Yet oddly, there have been no calls for increasing competition in education.

Bogus arguments are often applied selectively.  This is one test for determining if activists and politicians are full of it.  In this case, the advocates seem to believe competition is good if it means a larger role for government.  If competition means a larger role for some other entity, then it is bad, very very bad.

Healthcare’s ‘Public Option’ in Practice

Yep, despite Congress’ efforts on the so called “public option”, it is actually being used all over the country.  Here is a story on the situation in Utah with regard to the H1N1 vaccine.  And here are some of my observations on the H1N1 situation in Northern Virginia:

• The government has decided to run the H1N1 vaccine itself, making it a “public option”.
• First we were promised vaccine by October, now it is clear vaccine production is moving slower than expected and full coverage isn’t expected until December.
• Up until just days before the first Fairfax county clinic (held this past Saturday), officials had not decided which of the vulnerable groups would actually be eligible for treatment (they finally decided on babies and children too young for school).
• The opening line Saturday morning was 4 hours long.  Some people had camped out during the night and some people had come from as far as from states like Connecticut.
• By early afternoon, the line was non-existent.
• By the end of Saturday, it is estimated that the county had over half its supply remaining.

In short, this public option did not efficiently allocate resources to those in need.  This was done by creating a system that forced unnecessary lines, and distributed resources in shortage to some locations and excess in other locations.  In the end, this system could be judged by some criteria to have worked, but that would not necessarily mean it worked the best it could have.

Sadly, it needs repeating, government run and centrally planned “public” works are often not the answer.  The legislation that is currently moving through Congress is ridiculously complex and will establish extremely inefficient health-care.

Loudoun County in the Fall

If You’re Not Fighting for Liberty …

… then for what are you fighting?  Take the Afghanistan war for example.  People talk about a bunch of supposedly beneficial goals or complicated global strategy.  But at the end of all the talk, the actions better result in maintaining or expanding someone’s freedom.  Keep it simple, keep your eye on the ball, it’s not really that complex.

Do Americans Actually Live Longer than the French?

This letter in the Washington Post says when adjusted for homicide and transportation death rates, Americans have a longer life expectancy than all other nations!

This might indicate American health care is outperforming socialized systems found in Canada and the United Kingdom.