"The Federal Government ... Is the Health Care Equivalent of Bigfoot"

Fred Thompson pointed out this afternoon that even the Chicago Tribune has doubts about President Obama's proposed expansion of the federal government as a health care insurer.

But we do know a few things about government-run health plans. We draw upon decades of experience with Medicare, the government's plan for the elderly, and Medicaid, which provides coverage for the poor.

We know those plans pay bare-bones rates and yet still are busting the federal budget. One part of Medicare will be insolvent in 2018 if nothing is done. States are staggering under Medicaid costs. We know, as the president said in his AMA speech, Medicare and Medicaid spending will "grow over the coming decades by an amount almost equal to the amount our government currently spends on our nation's defense." And that "it will eventually grow larger than what our government spends on anything else today."

That's scary. Costs clearly need to be controlled. But the Democrats' solution to all this government excess is to create . . . another government-run health plan.