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Yesterday, Rep. Michele Bachmann was trying to explain to the group The Conservative Women’s Network the dangers of healthcare reform, but she made public healthcare sound pretty good. She argued that the government can provide health insurance that is nearly 30%-40% cheaper and, “It will probably offer equal or better benefits than any plan, but cheaper.”

Here is the audio courtesy of Think Progress:

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Bachmann tried to scare people with the fear that the government is taking over healthcare, “We’re told this is the public option don’t believe it. This is the government takeover of healthcare. This is how it works. The government, all of us, we taxpayers will subsidize that government option, and that government option will be 30%-40% cheaper than any private plan out there. It will probably offer equal or better benefits than any plan, but cheaper. Why, because they are just spending your money. What do they care? It is your money they’re spending as taxpayers, so they’ll offer this cheaper plan.”

Heaven forbid that businesses and individuals stop getting raped on healthcare costs each year. Bachmann claims that the government can provide cheaper, and better care than the private sector, and that this is something that we should be afraid of. In Republican thought, it is more important to protect the private sector than it is to fix healthcare.

Bachmann’s position is based on the ideology that the government should never get involved in the private sector, but I fail to see where government is doing anything wrong by giving the health insurance industry some real competition.

The paranoid element to the Republican concern is that this will lead to everyone getting on the public plan, while the private sector fades away. However, it is easy to avoid this simply by placing some limitations and restrictions on enrollment in the public option. Republicans continue to shoot themselves in the feet by maintaining the infallibility of the private sector. The private sector is not perfect, and the GOP should stop pretending that it is.