Bond & GOP Undermining Own Arguments About Public Option

The New York Times' "Prescriptions" blog breaks down a host of claims made by Senators in the health care debate this weekend. This statement from Sen. Kit Bond stands out:

“The government-run plan will have higher premiums, and the C.B.O. said it will drive up the cost of health care.”

Responding to this claim and similar ones made by Bond's colleagues, reporter David Herszenhorn writes:

The budget office estimates that premiums charged by the public plan would be “somewhat higher” than premiums charged by private plans. Although the budget office projects that the public plan would have lower administrative costs, it also projects that the people with greater medical needs would be more likely to enroll in the public plan and that the public plan would be less aggressive in limiting services.

Republicans can say that the public plan would charge higher premiums, but that undermines their argument that the public plan would drive private insurers out of business.

The projections by the budget office that relatively few people would choose the public plan suggest that it would not be as useful as some Democrats claim in increasing competition and lowering health care costs.

It's hard to imagine this sort of disconnect slowing Bond down, but it would be nice to hear the Senator and his GOP colleagues acknowledge that a public plan won't bring about the end of civilization.