Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress tried to re-brand the wildly unpopular and conspicuous “public option” as the softer sounding “consumer option.” The unfortunate part is that the consumer option is neither for the consumer, nor will it eventually be option.

The most recent bill, which Pelosi proclaimed would cost less than $900 billion, has been scored by the CBO as actually costing more than $1.2 trillion. The scheme attempts to pay for the bill by punishing consumers through taxing the premium plans purchased separately by individuals, or taken in lieu of pay increases by many unionized employees.

David Harsanyi, in an opinion piece, stated that “through the pages of the House bill, you will notice the word “regulation” appears 181 times. “Tax” is there 214 times. “Fees,” 103 times. As we all know, nothing says "affordability" like higher taxes and fees.”

But what about the option? With the government taxing private health plans and offering heavily subsidized insurance to families making up to $96,000 a year, private industry will be unable to compete. Couple that with a “health choices commissioner” dictating what rates insurers may charge, private insurance companies will fold one by one. Before long the “consumer option” will be a centrally run single-payer apparatus, and the only choice for many Americans.

The Speaker’s bill would more appropriately be titled, “Not an option.”

Comments? Write to tkorson@afphq.org