Fannie Med? Why a “Public Option” Is Hazardous to Your Health (Policy Analysis) 23%

By Alex Beehler36%

7/27/2009, 4:00:00 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Hasty Generalization, Framing Effect, and Biased Writer Voice, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 12.7% saturation with 75 hits. Analysis detected 590 faulty-reasoning hits from 591 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 36.3% and a BS Rank of 23% (16,896 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 77.20% of the article peer group.

President Obama and other leading Democrats 
have proposed creating a new government 
health insurance program as an option for 
Americans under the age of 65, within the context 
of a new, federally regulated market  typically 
described as a “National Health Insurance 
Exchange.” 
Supporters claim that a new government 
program could deliver higher-quality 
health care at a lower cost than private insurance, 
and that competition from a government program 
would force private insurers to improve. 
A full accounting shows that government 
programs cost more and deliver lower-quality 
care than private insurance. 
The central problem 
with proposals to create a new government program, 
however, is not that government is less 
efficient than private insurers, but that government 
can hide its inefficiencies and draw consumers 
away from private insurance, despite 
offering an inferior product. 
A health insurance “exchange,” where consumers 
choose between private health plans with 
artificially high premiums and a government program 
with artificially low premiums, would not 
increase competition. 
Instead, it would reduce 
competition by driving lower-cost private health 
plans out of business. 
President Obama’s vision of 
a health insurance exchange is not a market, but a 
prelude to a government takeover of the health 
care sector. 
In the process, millions of Americans 
would be ousted from their existing health plans. 
If Congress wants to make health care more 
efficient and increase competition in health 
insurance markets, there are far better options. 
Congress should reject proposals to create a 
new government health insurance program  not 
for the sake of private insurers, who would be 
subject to unfair competition, but for the sake of 
American patients, who would be subject to 
unnecessary morbidity and mortality. 
President Obama and other leading Democrats 
have proposed creating a new government 
health insurance program as an option for 
Americans under the age of 65, within the context 
of a new, federally regulated market  typically 
described as a “National Health Insurance 
Exchange.” 
Supporters claim that a new government 
program could deliver higher-quality 
health care at a lower cost than private insurance, 
and that competition from a government program 
would force private insurers to improve. 
A full accounting shows that government 
programs cost more and deliver lower-quality 
care than private insurance. 
The central problem 
with proposals to create a new government program, 
however, is not that government is less 
efficient than private insurers, but that government 
can hide its inefficiencies and draw consumers 
away from private insurance, despite 
offering an inferior product. 
A health insurance “exchange,” where consumers 
choose between private health plans with 
artificially high premiums and a government program 
with artificially low premiums, would not 
increase competition. 
Instead, it would reduce 
competition by driving lower-cost private health 
plans out of business. 
President Obama’s vision of 
a health insurance exchange is not a market, but a 
prelude to a government takeover of the health 
care sector. 
In the process, millions of Americans 
would be ousted from their existing health plans. 
If Congress wants to make health care more 
efficient and increase competition in health 
insurance markets, there are far better options. 
Congress should reject proposals to create a 
new government health insurance program  not 
for the sake of private insurers, who would be 
subject to unfair competition, but for the sake of 
American patients, who would be subject to 
unnecessary morbidity and mortality. 
Michael F. 
Cannon is director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute and coauthor of Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 2.0%Alex Beehler: 8.3%The Daily Caller: 5.0%Confirmation Bias2.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.5%The Daily Caller: 0.7%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.8%The Daily Caller: 2.7%Availability Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.2%The Daily Caller: 0.8%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.4%The Daily Caller: 0.4%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 5.1%Alex Beehler: 3.8%The Daily Caller: 3.3%Overconfidence Bias5.1%This article: 11.0%Alex Beehler: 7.3%The Daily Caller: 10.4%Framing Effect11.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.1%The Daily Caller: 0.9%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.4%The Daily Caller: 0.9%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 2.7%The Daily Caller: 2.7%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 7.8%Alex Beehler: 0.7%The Daily Caller: 2.5%Pessimism Bias7.8%This article: 12.7%Alex Beehler: 3.3%The Daily Caller: 8.2%Negativity Bias12.7%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.6%The Daily Caller: 1.2%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.4%The Daily Caller: 0.9%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 2.4%Alex Beehler: 0.8%The Daily Caller: 1.8%In-Group Bias2.4%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.1%The Daily Caller: 0.9%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 1.0%The Daily Caller: 1.6%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.8%The Daily Caller: 0.9%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.2%The Daily Caller: 0.6%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.2%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.2%The Daily Caller: 1.1%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 1.5%The Daily Caller: 1.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 2.0%Alex Beehler: 2.7%The Daily Caller: 4.6%Appeal to Authority2.0%This article: 2.4%Alex Beehler: 1.7%The Daily Caller: 2.9%False Dilemma2.4%This article: 8.1%Alex Beehler: 1.0%The Daily Caller: 2.4%Slippery Slope8.1%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.4%The Daily Caller: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 11.8%Alex Beehler: 4.5%The Daily Caller: 6.3%Hasty Generalization11.8%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.9%The Daily Caller: 0.4%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.3%The Daily Caller: 1.0%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 5.9%Alex Beehler: 2.4%The Daily Caller: 5.7%Appeal to Emotion5.9%This article: 2.4%Alex Beehler: 0.8%The Daily Caller: 2.1%Begging the Question2.4%This article: 2.0%Alex Beehler: 7.0%The Daily Caller: 3.5%Post Hoc (False Cause)2.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.8%The Daily Caller: 0.9%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.1%The Daily Caller: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 1.2%The Daily Caller: 0.4%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.7%The Daily Caller: 1.5%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 1.1%The Daily Caller: 1.9%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.1%The Daily Caller: 0.2%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.1%The Daily Caller: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.1%The Daily Caller: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.6%The Daily Caller: 2.2%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.4%The Daily Caller: 1.8%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 11.0%Alex Beehler: 3.8%The Daily Caller: 8.5%Biased Writer Voice11.0%This article: 4.2%Alex Beehler: 1.3%The Daily Caller: 3.6%Indoctrination4.2%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.0%The Daily Caller: 0.3%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 9.0%Alex Beehler: 1.2%The Daily Caller: 5.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias9.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Beehler: 0.2%The Daily Caller: 1.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

591 words analyzed.

Speakers

No attributed speakers were identified in this analysis.

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Analysis

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