Well, this sounds good and like a victory for American medicine. But read on a bit and you’ll see this:

Under a proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., consumer-owned nonprofit cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private industry, not unlike the way electric and agriculture co-ops operate, especially in rural states such as his own.

With $3 billion to $4 billion in initial support from the government, the co-ops would operate under a national structure with state affiliates, but independent of the government. They would be required to maintain the type of financial reserves that private companies are required to keep in case of unexpectedly high claims.

Hmm. Government-Sponsored Enterprises, eh? Should we call one the Federal National Medical Association? Because “Fannie Mae” would be a fun way to pronounce FNMA.

As always, the devil is in the details, and we’re going to need a lot more details on these co-ops before signing onto the idea. Is it a designed-to-fail option that’d necessitate a “public ‘option’” later on? Is it economically sustainable independent of government subsidies? Is it regulated heavily enough that, whatever it‘s corporate independence, it’s still effectively a political creature?

But if they’re seriously taking out the state-run component of this, then there’s a shot this debate will return to pragmatic, meliorist terms, a consummation devoutly to be wished.

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.