Hagedorn: My bill isn’t like Massachusetts, honest!
April 24th, 2008 | by Brian T. Schwartz |
Since all things are the same, except for the differences, and different except for the similarities, it is always possible to make things look similar verbally, however different they are in the real world.
– Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed (p. 93 , 102 )
Sowell has recently pointed this out in reference to Barack Obama. In this case, it’s another Democrat, Bob Hagedorn. He’s trying to make his Senate Bill 217 sound different from government-controlled health care in Massachusetts health plan, however similar they are in the real world.
Senator Bob Hagedorn claims that his proposed Senate Bill 217 is "the antithesis of what Massachusetts has done." (Hat tip, Ari Armstrong ) Sounds a bit defensive, no?
As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports , " Senate Bill 217 would have carriers submit plans to the state rather than have the state dictate the kinds of plans it would require carriers to offer, Hagedorn said."
So in Massachusetts, politicians tell insurance companies what policies they must sell, and then makes it a crime for citizens not to buy them. Senate Bill 217 proposes that insurance companies submit plans that comply with a dozen politician-defined criteria, and then (in the original bill) would make it a crime for some citizens not to buy them.
Both the Colorado and Massachusetts plans involve confiscating wealth earned by one group of people for the purpose of buying politician-defined insurance for others.
The antithesis of the Massachusetts plan would be for state government to stop dictating how patients, doctors, and insurance companies may or may not voluntarily trade for goods and services. It would also realize that there’s no compassion in forced giving, that monopolistic charities are not effective, and reform Medicaid in accordance with these facts.
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