Choice can sometimes be a really, really rotten idea

[eridani]

That's because ome kinds of choices dramatically reduce access to other choices that matter far more.

Would it be a good for electrical contractors to make outlets any size they chose, or for appliance manufacturers to make plugs any size they chose? Ever heard anybody gripe about being restricted to choosing between 110 volt or 220 volt lines?

Forcing standardization of those things increases the choices available to consumers of electrical appliances by a couple of orders of magnitude.

Similarly, single payer health care financing increases patients’ choice of providers by ending fragmentation of risk pools and provider pools. And the only way to get it is by legally forcing the absence of choices that don't matter in order to facilitate the choices that do matter.

[eridani]

1. Kick for the morning crowd

And have you remembered to call the White House and your legislators about universal health care this week? Do it!

[serrano2008]

2. So in your analogy...the American public are the outlets and the contractors are the govt?

I hope someone can come up with a more clear analogy before this gets presented to Congress like this.

[eridani]

3. What I meant to say was that limiting choice at lower levels of infrastructure increases choice

--at higher levels. Either industry consortiums or government standardize screw threads, electrical outlet sizes, etc.