The line inching its way around a complete city block attracted petition mongers like flies to a meadow muffin. One of the ones being circulated was something in favor of universal single-payer health insurance. While that system may have several arguments going in its favor, the continuation of Emp. Peng.'s livelihood is not one of them. The signature gatherer had obviously been briefed on responses to typical objections to the proposed system. "I sell health insurance policies for a living. Universal single-payer health insurance effectively puts me out of a job" was not one her briefers anticipated. After an entertaining back-and-forth (my favorite part of which was her assertion that "it's the president of your company who is making all the money" to which my frostbitten brain couldn't stop my mouth from blurting out, "he is the president of his company!"), Emp. Peng. finally, as firmly and diplomatically as possible, suggested that maybe we weren't the right audience for her, and she gave up.
I'll be right there in line to say that our current system of paying for health care is in need of some fairly drastic improvements. However, one aspect I have never seen addressed by any of the reform proposals is that the flip side of a bloated bureaucracy is that it provides jobs.
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