George Orwell called it, and now Speaker Pelosi rolls out the Newspeak. The public option, is now apparently being rechristened, the “competitive option.” From the story:
In an appearance at a Florida senior center, the Democratic leader referred to the so-called public option as “the consumer option.” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., appeared by Pelosi’s side and used the term “competitive option.” Both suggested new terminology might get them past any lingering doubts among the public—or consumers or competitors.A government-sponsored “public option” for health care lives, though it may be more attractive to skeptics if it goes by a different moniker, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday.
Love is hate, war is peace, public option is a competitive option!
The real competative option would be to permit private companies to sell across state lines. That would lower prices and increase innovation in writing policies as the many companies—profit and non profit alike—contested for increasingly larger market shares. But the powers that be won’t consider it. They want to cause private insurance to wither on the vine. Hence, the need for Orwellian euphemism.
