Minnesota Legislator: Our Medicare Problem Requires Upending YOUR Private Insurance

If you’ve spent any time in cubicle-land, you’ve no doubt seen a piece of paper, perhaps photocopied one too many times, with this message: “Poor planning on your part does not an emergency make on my part.”

I thought of that when I came across a story about Minnesota’s leading legislator on health care. It’s fair to say that Sen. Linda Berglin (D-Minneapolis) is a fan of a massive expansion of government in the area of health care, if not an outright single-payer plan.

At a recent meeting on health care, a fellow legislator complained about the cost of a government takeover. In response, Berglin said, “would encourage you to think about how we’ll pay for health care in the future if we don’t do this. Medicare spending and costs will just continue to rise without some way of controlling costs in the whole health care system.” (Emphasis added.)

To paraphrase the office memo: The unsustainable nature of government health programs does not justify taking health care out of the private sector.

(Cross-posted from State House Call.)

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