Questing for Atlantis

Please allow me to indulge in another “told you so moment.”

Back in August I explained the biggest reason I’m opposed to government involvement in healthcare.

That’s because the alternative isn’t an end to rationing. It’s a rearrangement of what drives it. Like it or not, when government becomes the arbiter of choice rather than the market, decisions cease to be driven by market forces and are instead driven by political pull. Try imagining a healthcare system where every health complaint is now a political interest. Do you think they’ll prioritized around necessity and importance? Or will it be around which ones have the best lobbyists and marketing?

So I was understandably not surprised to see this in the news:

The White House has reached a tentative agreement with labor leaders to tax high-cost health insurance policies, sources said Thursday. The agreement clears one of the last major obstacles on the path to final passage of comprehensive health care legislation…Health plans negotiated on behalf of state and local workers, or as part of collective-bargaining agreements, would be exempt for five years after the 2013 effective date

This is what happens when you put control into the politicians’ hands. So long as decisions get made, some method is going to be used to discriminate between consumers. The only question is if you prefer that to be decided by lobbyists and media campaigns or by the dollar.