George F. Will Admits Public Option Will Cut Costs

Insurance exists because of the decreasing marginal utility of income: most people would rather have a 100% chance of paying $300 a month than a 1% chance of paying $30,000 a month. In fact, our hypothetical customer -- let's call him Frederick, after George F. Will's middle name -- might very well accept a 100% chance of paying $400 a month rather than take 1% chance of having to pay $30,000, which he might not be able to afford. This is true even though ... Full Story »

Posted by Derek Hawkins

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Peter Henry
3.6
by Peter Henry - Jun. 27, 2009

An opinion piece on a piece of punditry. Noteworthy because it highlights conservative pro-corporate Will's complaint that it ain't fair for the non-profit government to compete with for-profit insurance companies. Will is a porpogandist. I don't know if Silver is a pundit (an opinion on everything, an expert on nothing), but at least he presents an argument from economics which explains why the insurance industry is by nature non-competitive. Interesting piece.

Doesn't cover economics of replacing for-profit health insurance with public single-payer option.

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