I was appalled watching Morning Joe this morning to hear John Shadegg (R-AZ) claim that the Public Option would not spur competition in health care insurance because most people get their insurance from their employers and insurance companies don't compete for the employer's dollar on price or quality!
Mr Shadegg used the people at the table on Morning Joe as examples of the average citizen and how they get their health insurance, never mind that most at the table are probably wealthy enough to self-insure and he himself has a variety of plans to choose from complements of we taxpayers.
I realize that this guy is a nobody and is far from being a major player in the health insurance debate, but since he had a voice on a national cable show, I'd like to invite all of you Kos readers to contact Rep Shadegg and tell him what a bozo he is and let him know that we're not as out of touch as he is on the issues involved in the health care debate.
You can watch his comments on Morning Joe in this clip. While the entire clip is about 8 minutes, the exchange takes place starting around 3:00 into it.
... the reality is the health insurance industry does not compete today for your business or my business. Not a single person on this set gets to buy his or own [sic] health insurance. We get it from our employers. And health insurance companies, unlike other insurance companies don't have to compete for our business. They don't compete on price, they don't compete on quality. Once they've convinced the owners of NBC what the plan should be, then they buy the plan. Joe can't hire it, Mika can't hire it. Joe can't fire it, Mika can't fire it. We're all stuck with employer based care...
One of the best arguments for single payer that I've heard recently!
Sam Stein of the Huffington Post put forth the reality side of the argument, but being that the discussion is moderated by Joe, the discussion gets cut short far before Shadegg's ridiculous assertions are unequivocally trashed.
Unfortunately, Shadegg uses the mandate that everyone must buy insurance from the insurance companies to beat the Democrats over the head (and they should rightly be be beaten over the head for that). I suspect that mandate is the main reason why the president's plan and the Senate's plan lack public support. I cannot understand, with all the polling (Even Joe Scarborough admitted it this morning) showing that the public option has overwhelming popular support, why the president and the senate reject it in favor of gifts to the insurance companies. OK, I do have an idea, but I will cling to my Pollyanna view of the world and hope beyond reason that they have the best intentions for the citizens of the United States.