re: #14 Charles

Well, the guy spent his entire professional life dealing with insurance companies, and is one of the best informed people on the subject that I know of. If he thinks private health insurance firms have problems, he undoubtedly has good reasons for that opinion.

I’m not sure why this opinion would count as a “myth.”

That’s one reason I like the new trigger option being discussed. No one disagrees that heath care is outpacing inflation by a great deal and the insurance companies are making mad money. No one thinks competition is basically bad, so write a bill with a trigger. Tell the private insurers they have 5 years to keep costs withing .5 % of inflation by cutting costs, and they will not have government or co opt to compete with. That has the added advantage of giving us a few years to plan out a good plan, or the next Congress has a shot to kill the program if it’s unsuccessful.