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Why it is SO important to include a public health care option to the emerging national health care plan coming out of Washington:

Without a public option, the other parties that comprise America's non-system of health care -- private insurers, doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and medical suppliers -- have little or no incentive to supply high-quality care at a lower cost than they do now.

Which is precisely why the public option has become such a lightening rod. The American Medical Association is dead-set against it, Big Pharma rejects it out of hand, and the biggest insurance companies won't consider it. No other issue in the current health-care debate is as fiercely opposed by the medical establishment and their lobbies now swarming over Capitol Hill. Of course, they don't want it. A public option would squeeze their profits and force them to undertake major reforms. That's the whole point.

Robert Reich then goes on from there to rebut all the major talking points emanating from the conservative side of the aisle:

** Critics say the public option is really a Trojan horse for a government takeover of all of health insurance.

** Private insurers say a public option would have an unfair advantage in achieving this goal.

** But, say the critics, the public plan starts off with an unfair advantage because it's likely to have lower administrative costs.

** Critics complain that a public plan has an inherent advantage over private plans because the public won't have to show profits.

** Critics charge that the public plan will be subsidized by the government.

** Finally, critics say that because of its breadth and national reach, the public plan will be able to collect and analyze patient information on a large scale to discover the best ways to improve care.

He answers each and everyone of those charges clearly, cogently, and forcefully, and concludes thusly:

As a practical matter, the choice people make between private plans and a public one is likely to function as a check on both. Such competition will encourage private plans to do better -- offering more value at less cost. At the same time, it will encourage the public plan to be as flexible as possible. In this way, private and public plans will offer one other benchmarks of what's possible and desirable.

Read the entire post to understand what's going on right now in Washington.

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