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Monday, August 24, 2009

DENNIS PATRICK: HEALTH CARE CO-OPS—TRUTH AND FICTION

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Universal health care doesn’t appear to be the shoo-in it once was, but it may still become reality.

The liberal objective, now and for the last half century, has always been a single payer health care system. Regardless of the rhetoric used by proponents, a single payer system rules out competition. Ergo, a public option, single payer health care system means a government-run system.

In fact, without a government option, there is no reason for a health care reform legislation as currently proposed. Medicare reform, yes. Co-opting the entire private health care system, no.

The current euphemism in congress for a government-run system is “co-op.” As such, this represents little more than the camel’s nose under the tent, so to speak.

If a public health care plan was a Trojan horse for a universal, single-payer health care system, a co-op, in the liberal sense, is a Trojan horse for a government-run public health care system.

Be careful what you wish for and don’t be fooled by the wildly populist words of legislators. Their sense of co-ops and the public’s sense of co-ops are not the same.

The co-op concept has a rich and varied history. We all know farmers established co-ops long ago to market and distribute produce. Workers in some sectors have established co-ops called “credit unions.” Purchasing co-ops provide members with access to a variety of goods and services at reduced prices. In metropolitan areas, co-op members own their apartment buildings. Insurance companies form co-ops called “mutual” insurance companies.

Here are the criteria a true co-op should meet if it is to be part of the health care solution.

--It should be run exclusively by its members.

--It should be funded exclusively by its members and other private sources.

--It should be controlled exclusively by its members.

Health care co-ops cannot and must not have any federal involvement if they are to be truly competitive and working for the individual. They must not:

--Be run by any government in any form, especially the federal government.

--Be funded or subsidized by the government even for “startup funds.”

--Include plans chosen or influenced by any level of government.

Currently, liberal congressional leaders seek some form of government involvement as a compromise under the moniker “co-op.“

If health care co-ops are so good, why don’t they proliferate? What’s to stop them from germinating like other co-ops?

If congress is intent on reforming health care along the lines of co-ops, they could change the tax code to do two things. First, congress could permit mutual insurance companies to be truly non-profit insurance companies.

Second, the tax code could give individuals the same tax breaks for buying insurance through co-ops as they currently give for buying through their employer. That would spur real competition.

Senator Kent Conrad touts the example of Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (GHCPS) as an example of a health care co-op. Unfortunately, that is not a good example to use. GHCPS policy holders do not have ownership rights. They may apply for membership, but policy holders neither own the “cooperative” nor do they have full membership rights.

Ultimately, every civil program the feds attempt to manage eventually is driven into the ground and out of budget with inevitable cost overruns. Why entrust the government with yet another costly boondoggle to botch?

If a public option is adopted, individuals can expect to be treated no better than a line item in a budget. Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Click here to email your elected representatives.

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