Representative Tom Price has an op-ed in Politico today where he argues:
Because of Washington's inability to deliver high-quality care, the American people remain wholly opposed to turning control of medical decisions over to the government. To overcome this, Democrats in Congress have begun promoting an innocent-sounding “public option.” They claim the public option would simply “compete” with private plans. Proponents of such a plan assert that the inadequacies of our current health care system are the product of a failed free market. Yet the irrefutable truth is there is no free market in American health care. Market mechanisms have been trampled by governmental involvement in care, primarily through Medicare — the government's public option for seniors.
It would seem that the obvious solution would be to get rid of Medicare. Yet Price doesn't advocate that. Which is strange. If that the American people are so set against government-run care and Medicare has proven such a catastrophic policy decision, you'd imagine that the Republicans would simply scrap, or at least radically reform, the program. It's good policy and, apparently, good politics. Who would stand in their way?
