Public option likely to be managed by private insurance company

By GottaLaff

Big Insurance reminds me of the recent bedbug epidemic. You can't get rid of 'em, they sneak in, they're everywhere, they suck your blood, they're unhealthy, they take over, and they're disgusting:

A little-noticed tidbit in Saturday's Washington Post is sure to raise eyebrows among liberal supporters of a gorvernment-run healthcare plan: the plan is likely to be administered by a private insurance company, the very companies that progressive activists are trying to unseat.

[...]

The public option would effectively be just another insurance plan offered on the open market. It would likely be administered by a private insurance provider, charging premiums and copayments like any other policy. In an early estimate of the House bill, the Congressional Budget Office forecast that fewer than 12 million people would buy insurance through the government plan.

[...] A physicians' group notes that the bills authorize the government to contract with "corporations" that will create a "public option."

Excuse me? How did we all miss this? Anyone out there know this was going on? Am I reading too much into this, worrying for nothing again? Please tell me it's one of those times.

The article goes on to compare the "public option" to Medicare... step by step... bit by bit... unfavorably.

It's kind of like identical twins v. fraternal twins. In the first case, they share identical genes, they look alike, and are the proverbial two peas in a pod.

In the other, they share a birth date, but that's about all. One can be male, the other female, and if they are the same gender, they don't necessarily even resemble each other.

But it’s an important feature for “option” supporters to understand because it undermines the claim “option” advocates make over and over that the “option” will look like Medicare.

Fraternal.