Health Insurance Debate Clue

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ruefullyamused shared an interesting editorial on Joe freaking Scarborough getting a clue about the health insurance debate.

"Why are we paying profits for insurance companies?" [NY Rep. Anthony] Weiner asked Scarborough. "Why are we paying overhead for insurance companies? Why," he asked, bringing it all home, "are we paying for their TV commercials?"

Weiner, who recently warned that President Obama could lose as many as 100 votes on a health bill if a public option is not included, really wants single payer -- Medicare for all Americans is his goal. What a crazy, way-out, reckless notion, Joe went into their encounter believing. But Weiner asked some simple, direct questions that no politician, much less Obama or HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, has managed to pose:

What is an insurance company? They don't do a single check-up. They don't do a single exam, they don't perform an operation. Medicare has a 4 percent overhead rate. The real question is why do we have a private plan?

"It sounds like you're saying you think there is no need for us to have private insurance in healthcare," Joe asked at one point.

Weiner replied: "I've asked you three times. What is their value? What are they bringing to the deal?"

[emphasis mine]

I've said repeatedly that the mandatory requirement for stuff like auto insurance is tantamount to state-sanctioned extortion. Yes, I see the value in protecting yourself in the event of something bad happening, but you're also having to foot the bill for folks who don't obey the law and drive around uninsured (I don't have numbers to support or refute this hunch, but I am almost willing to bet that uninsured motorists are less-safe drivers; if anyone has data, I would love to see it).