First, the lie that the government wishes to just "compete" with private insurers is complete BOGUS. The federal (and state governments) already heavily regulate the private insurance market. Over the years governments (both state and federal) have required insurers to cover more and more procedures, many which have nothing to do with health thereby forcing customers to shell out more money instead of just simply allowing consumers to customize their plan….you know kinda like how you do with other insurance.

Also doctors spend around 30 billion per year (according to CNN) on malpractice insurance. So if we could have some tort reform of some sort to reduce law suit abuse.

But the point I REALLY try to make to people is this….Private insurance companies need to at least break even to keep themselves in business. Government does not. Government can afford to operate at a loss because it has an endless supply of tax revenue and the ability to borrow money from sales of bonds or by monetizing the debt with the Federal Reserve. Now ask yourself this….if you were a business of some sort, and you were competing against someone who could afford to operate at a loss indefinitely don’t you think you would have a hard time competing against them? They could afford to continually undercut you (at their loss) and eventually put you out of business. So as you can see the government is NOT competing against private insurers in a FREE market because
1) they regulate their competitors already and 2) they can afford to lose as much money as they want since they do not need to make a profit or even break even to stay in business.

Now some people would say that as long as they can afford to give people cheap medical care then it shouldn’t really matter if they operate at a loss….Well ok, but there is one problem with that and that is supply

If the government sets prices artificially low then their will be an increase in demand for those services. The system will not be able to handle everybody in a timely manner which will lead to long waits and rationing. Now to be clear there already is rationing today just as their is rationing of every product and service we buy….the rationing factor is the price. There are ways to lower the price using Free market solutions instead of the heavy coercive hand of government such as:

Tax deductions for health savings accounts that can be used towards deductibles or insurance premiums, tort reform, allowing private insurance to compete in a free market unlike what it has endured over the years as increased government regulation has increased the price.

I’m starting to ramble, but the main point I wanted to put out for debate is that government is NOT competing against private insurers because it is government that is setting the terms of competition and not the market and also the government can afford to operate at a loss while private insurers can’t. Talk about a monopoly!

Please if all you can say is a bunch of rude or ignorant things then please don’t comment.

Got this in the company mail today:

Dear Valued Employee:

As you know, President Obama has asked Congress to pass the beginning of his health insurance plan for all Americans. The starting plan will cost some billion a year, of which the President has proposed billion in higher taxes for firms doing business overseas, which is half our company’s business. He asked Congress to find the rest of the money.

Congress has said the other billion a year will come from disallowing corporate tax deductions for employee health insurance, as well as raising the general corporate income tax rate to 35%.

The company will absorb the higher taxes on our foreign operations and the tax increase to 35% even though we expect this to eliminate our currently low net income.

Our corporation pays approximately ,000 per year per single employee and ,000 per year per employee family for the health insurance coverage you presently have.

This means that Congress has decided to raise our taxes by 00 per employee with single coverage and 50 per employee with family coverage.

As you know, our company’s sales have recently fallen by more than at any previous time in our company’s history. Our company is paying no dividends to the owners and may soon be in danger of not earning the interest cost of our debts.

Accordingly, we must pass onto our employees the entire added tax that Congress will impose on your health insurance plan. It is either this, go out of business, or move operations and most jobs overseas.

Effective the first of next month, all US employees electing single coverage health insurance will have their monthly contribution increased by 175 dollars and those electing family coverage will contribute an added 262.50. For hourly employees paid every two weeks, this is .75 and 1.15 respectively.

Thank you for your continued efforts to make the company profitable,

Human Resources Department

From Investor’s Business Daily:

Obama has proposed effective tax increases of 20% or more in the two top income-tax rates, phasing out the personal exemptions and all itemized deductions for top earners, as well as raising their tax rates.

He wants a 33% increase in the tax rates on capital gains and dividends, an increase of 16% to 32% in the top payroll tax rate, reinstatement of the death tax with a 45% top rate, and a new payroll tax on employers estimated at 7% to help finance his health insurance plan. He’s also contending for higher tariffs under his protectionist policies.

Finally, he would increase corporate taxes by 25%, though American businesses already face the second-highest marginal tax rates in the industrialized world, thus directly harming manufacturing and job creation while weakening demand for the dollar.