The Oklahoman (Editorial) | July 2, 2009

The new chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party has a problem with bureaucrats running the nation’s health insurance system. That would be big news if Todd Goodman were talking about the bureaucrats Democrats in Congress want to employ for a nationalized health care system.

Goodman, though, is critical of the "bureaucrats working for insurance companies.”

"We (state Democratic Party leaders) believe that people should have more options when it comes to health insurance, and that they should have the final say in what kind of treatment they receive ...” Goodman said in a message accompanying his appeal for participation in the June 27 National Health Care Day of Service, a Barack Obama re-election campaign event disguised as community service.

Goodman laments that so many Oklahomans are uninsured but says nothing about the efforts the Legislature has made to decrease that number through the Insure Oklahoma program. Perhaps that’s because Goodman doesn’t think much of the program or perhaps it’s because the lead in reducing the rate of uninsured has been taken by Oklahoma Republicans.

Democrats can’t have it both ways. Replacing insurance company "bureaucrats” with government bureaucrats isn’t much of a trade. We’ll take the private sector any day in that contest.

As for having more options, a single-payer system, which is at the heart of Obama’s desires, would reduce options, not increase them. As for having the "final say” in treatment, ask citizens of Canada and other countries with nationalized health care if their "final say” rights are honored.