Oh goodness, it’s a tortuous analogy. Just plain bad.

Having said that, I’m not anxious to read any more of this thread, and probably won’t. Not that there’s anything wrong with what people here will say. These topics just aren’t my cup of tea. I can only imagine the horrors of a thread this would be if it were on NBC, though… *shudder*

Suppose all minor league teams had a facility like New Yankee Stadium?  Hospitals 10 miles apart have to duplicate multi-million dollar diagnostic machines to keep up with their neighbors.  Administrators love this because they are then responsible for a bigger facility and the corresponding increase in pay and staff.The people pay in increased insurance premium.

Suppose every ball and strike and play at a plate had to have the concurrance of 2 or 3 umpires? The trial lawyers (sorry, Craig) could sue for every hangnail mis-treated to keep their yachts afloat, and the payout comes from the 150,000 to 200,000 dollars every physician pays, thereby raising their cost of doing business and their rates. Patients pay.

Insurance companies are often vilified, some with good reason, however there is capital invested to maintain their services which could logically be expected to yield some return. Rates go up, patients pay.

The Federal Government owns a majority of 2 of 3 American auto producers.  How’s that working out for them?

Just covering everyone through the public option will send the tax rate through the ceiling if cost containment is not instituted. Allow everyone to be covered on a percentage basis according to market share of the insurers with the appropriate rate being charged, and if necessary, subsidized.

The Yankees seem to have “capped” themselves for 3 years at $206M with some depth on the bench to boot.  Sure it’s a lot but the team across the river is almost as much with, well…..mixed results.  Apply proper management to the health care issue and we may have a winner!

Yeah, Brian makes the point I want to. It seems pretty dumb to make this analogy when MLB actually did own a team, ran it poorly for a long time, and then was forced to pay off a local competitor to even move it to a location it thought would work.

Yes, MLB did own a franchise, but, seeing as it was a foreign city, not even English speaking, it wasn’t un-American for MLB to own it, at least initially. Moving to DC made MLB ownership un-American.

Real Question: Currently, what 30 health insurers are monopoly holders, and to what areas do they haver territorial rights? Are other insurers prohibited from entering into this arena, or would they have to create a whole different health care field in order to compete?

Would ballparks have waiting rooms with dirty, broken toys, screaming children and old issues of magazines no one ever reads except in drs. offices? 

On the other hand, I’d love for my doctor to have beer and hot dog vendors.  I do get hungry after a long wait, and I’m sure they could make allowances for the beers when they test the urine sample.

Craig, as you stated it is our thread and thanks for that, but you should definitely steer away from politics on your posts.  Yeah, it’s funny, etc., but a lot of your readers don’t come here for that.  If I want to get depressed, there are plenty of political sites for me to go to.  I come here for baseball.

Thanks.

I don’t see how this analogy is the least bit relevant. Health care insurers do not produce anything or provide services - to enter the game, you just need a large pool of money in order to provide insurance to enough people that the risk is spread around.

Any analogies to anything other than the insurance industry are likely to be ill-fitting (though, if someone wants to talk about the government setting up a “public” car insurance company, let’s play ball).

At first I thought this was a dumb analogy. I mean we literally can’t live without health care, while baseball is just entertainment.

But wait, could we, those of us inclined to find and read a web site such as THT anyway, really live without baseball? <shuddering>

And ... if we could actually implement this analogy, then we, the gate payers, could vote Selig out of office.

Hmmmmm ....

Maybe he thinks gaining antitrust exemption for the insurance companies will drive costs down?  I really can’t decipher what this guy is trying to say.

@ The Rabbit-
  Apparently the Sargeant-at-Arms has the day off because Jimbo obviously didn’t know the secret handshake and should have been promptly escorted to the Blue Network.