Should a Government Health Plan compete with Private Health Plans?

<b></b>Copyright 2009 Newstex LLCAll Rights ReservedNewstex Web BlogsCopyright 2009 Healthcare Economist Healthcare <span id="x_hitDiv1"><b>Economist</b> <br> <br> <b></b><span id="x_hitDiv2"><b>March</b> 31, 2009 Tuesday 12:59 PM EST <br> <br> <b>LENGTH: </b>120 words <br> <br> <br> <b>HEADLINE: </b>Should a Government Health Plan compete with Private Health Plans? A Rebuttal<br> <br> <b>BYLINE: </b>Jason Shafrin <br> <br> <p></p> Mar. 31, 2009 (<a href="http://healthcare-economist.com">Healthcare Economist</a> delivered by Newstex) -- Last month, I blogged about allowing <a href="http://healthcare-economist.com/2009/02/24/should-a-government-health-plan-compete-with-private-health-plans/"> a government-sponsored health plan to compete with private insurers</a>. <a href="http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001470.html"> Joe Paduda</a> gives one argument in favor of a public health insurer that any economist would love: <p></p> <a href="http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001470.html">increased competition</a>. œThe reality today is that almost every market is already dominated by a very few health plans, so much so that in most markets, there really is very little market competition amongst health plans¦In 96% of markets, at least one insurer has share higher than 30%; in almost two-thirds of the markets, at one insurer has share greater than 50%. Could a public health plan actually increase competition? Newstex ID: HCEC-0001-33801767 <br> <br> <b>NOTES: </b>The views expressed on blogs distributed by Newstex and its re-distributors ("Blogs on Demand®") are solely the author's and not necessarily the views of Newstex or its re-distributors. Posts from such authors are provided "AS IS", with no warranties, and confer no rights. The material and information provided in Blogs on Demand® are for general information only and should not, in any respect, be relied on as professional advice. No content on such Blogs on Demand® is "read and approved" before it is posted. Accordingly, neither Newstex nor its re-distributors make any claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained therein or linked to from such blogs, nor take responsibility for any aspect of such blog content. All content on Blogs on Demand® shall be construed as author-based content and commentary. Accordingly, no warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions, commentary or anything else offered on such Blogs on Demand®. Reader's comments reflect their individual opinion and their publication within Blogs on Demand® shall not infer or connote an endorsement by Newstex or its re-distributors of such reader's comments or views. Newstex and its re-distributors expressly reserve the right to delete posts and comments at its and their sole discretion. <br> <br> <b>LOAD-DATE: </b>March 31, 2009 <br> <br> <div> <div class="x_nshr"> <center></center> <center><a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/lncc/about/copyrt.html" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks">Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. </a><br> <a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/terms/general" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks">Terms and Conditions</a> <a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/terms/privacy" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks"> Privacy Policy</a> <br> </center> </div> </div> </span></span>