President Obama and most congressional Democrats say they want
to preserve private health insurance. They also want to add a
"public plan" to compete with private insurance plans. Their
basic argument is that a public plan would offer needed
competition, save money through low administrative costs and
zero profits, realize greater economies of scale, and be a
superior negotiator of the prices of medical services and
technology.  David Klein  The first three arguments are bogus.
The fourth argument is only half-bogus -- but the half that
isn't reveals a great danger: If a public plan is inserted into
private insurance markets, the American health-care system could
rapidly evolve into a single-payer system, which would have
devastating effects on R&D for new medical technology.  The
first argument, that we need a public plan to spur competition,
just isn't plausible. Hundreds of health insurance plans already
exist, and employer benefit managers can choose among numerous
alternatives. There is no lack of firms