Former Secretary of Labor and Berkeley professor of public policy Robert Reich’s Feb. 23 op-ed in the NYT, “Bust the Health Care Trusts” displays a shocking amount of ignorance about health insurance and the antitrust exemption for the “business of insurance.” Even a rudimentary amount of research would have shown Professor Reich that the antitrust exemption has had nothing to do with consolidation in health insurance or with health insurance pricing.  He simply does not know what he’s talking about.

(If you are interested in reality, see my op-ed “Competition and Health Insurance”.)

President Obama’s healthcare proposal is a costlier hybrid of the House and Senate bills — without the House bill’s public option and with the addition of a populist proposal for federal regulation of health insurance rates.  When all is said and done, it reflects the same basic approach that culminated in the election of Scott Brown.

There’s very little news here.  There is no basis for bipartisan reform.  Thursday’s healthcare “summit” is purely for public consumption.