Because it works so well

Jindal on health care - and remember, this is the official Republican position now:

Republicans believe in a simple principle: No American should have to worry about losing their health coverage -- period. We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. What we oppose is universal government-run health care. Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients, not by government bureaucrats.

Three points jump out.

1. No American should have to worry about losing their health coverage. You bums, unemployed losers, and poor folks who don't have it now, tough luck.

2. Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients. Unless of course it's some procedure we morally disapprove of. Then we'll drag your case through Congress and up to the Supreme Court if we feel like it.

3. Health care decisions should be made ... not by government bureaucrats. Because neutral government bureaucrats, whose job is just to make sure your doctor gets paid, won't do as good a job as some guy in an insurance company, whose job is to spend as little money as he possibly can - zero being the optimum.

Somehow, no one blinks when lawyers run ads pointing out that the insurance companies aren't looking out for you in car wrecks, but in health care? And why are government bureaucrats (like the ones administering Medicare) so much worse than insurance bureaucrats? I've had to switch doctors five times in eight years because they keep "leaving the plan" as the insurance company puts it, blithely assigning me a new doctor I've never heard of. Last time, the guy's office was over an hour away. That works so well...