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Obama Compares Health Care Reform Plan to Post Office-FedEx Relationship

In a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, President Obama defended his support for a "public option" health care plan by citing the success of FedEx and United Parcel Service.

This is an interesting analogy for the President to choose.  Because the United States Postal Service (USPS) and FedEx/UPS do not compete on a level playing field.  USPS has a government-protected monopoly on delivering mail that dates back to the 1800s.  It is illegal for any private company to deliver mail -- even for citizens to place flyers and packages in a mailbox on their own initiative. What FedEx and UPS are permitted to do is deliver packages, not mail. They do it well, which is why most people trust that a package sent overnight by FedEx or UPS will indeed get there in the morning. 

But here is where the analogy gets even more interesting.  Because the House and Senate health care bills (HR 3200 and the Senate H.E.L.P Committee bill) do more than create a public option (problematic as this would be).  These bills empower the federal government -- in the person of the "Health Choices Commissioner" or the Secretary of HHS -- to determine all the rules under which health care financing and delivery -- the entire health care system -- will be conducted in the United States.  The government will be able to determine what must go into a health care benefits package, what it can cost, what treatments will be approved, how much reimbursement will be provided under what conditions, etc., etc.

So here is the question -- could we trust FedEx and UPS to deliver our packages on time (especially the ones that "absolutely, positively have to be there overnight") for a fair price if all aspects of their operation were defined and controlled by the Post Office?

. . . and human life and health is much more precious than any package.

For more analysis of President Obama's "Post Office" plan, click this link to get the Heritage Foundation's take.