Obama, co-pays and competition

You know what's cute? Conservatives who decry the public option are pretty much admitting that capitalism is less efficient than is the evil gummint. That admission tosses out decades of libertarian programming.

When Obama addressed an audience in Colorado yesterday, the following exchange occurred:

During an otherwise placid town hall-style meeting here with 1,600 people at a high school gymnasium, a University of Colorado student challenged Obama to an "Oxford-style debate" over the so-called "public option."

"How in the world can a private corporation providing insurance compete with an entity that does not have to worry about making a profit, does not have to pay local property taxes" or face local regulations, Zach Lahn asked Obama. "How can a company compete with that?"

You're right, Zach. A company can't compete with that. So let the competition begin!

Let's talk about profits, Zach. Why should I be required to help pay for some insurance exec's house in Gstaad? Why not cut out the fat altogether by switching over to a single-payer system? That's the question you should have asked the president, Zach.

I have another question for the president. He grandly announced to his Colorado audience that the new bill would cap co-payments:

...the president pledged that new legislation would ease the burdens of consumers by capping the amount insurance companies can charge annually for out-of-pocket costs such as co-pays and deductibles.

Now, I happen to think that capping co-payments is a superb idea. But how is Obama going to implement such a pledge? He did not write the legislation. He let the House and the Senate do it.

I see nothing about such caps in the actual bill going through the House. See for yourself: Go here and then use the "find" function to call up every instance of the term "co-pay" or "co-payment."

So forgive my cynicism, but Obama's co-pay pledge reminds me of his oft-repeated 2008 pledge to hold health care hearings on CSPAN.