# If a public option fails, how can we fix the insurance industry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-public-option-fails-how-can-we-fix-the-insurance-industry/509721 "2009-09-11T19:40:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-public-option-fails-how-can-we-fix-the-insurance-industry/509721/41 "2009-09-14T17:59:30Z")
Okay, help me here. Say we jump right in and allow the Republican talking point about purchasing across state lines. What exactly would keep insurance companies from moving to the state with the most lenient regulations? Wouldn’t state governments be falling over themselves to become the least regulated state so they could get all these multi-billion dollar insurance companies to headquarter in their state? Wouldn’t this lead to a much worse situation? Isn’t this what happened to credit card companies? Honestly, someone please explain to me why the state line idea isn’t utterly stupid for everyone but insurance company shareholders? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-public-option-fails-how-can-we-fix-the-insurance-industry/509721/42 "2009-09-14T18:24:05Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > Okay…that was poorly worded. My point is that if Walmart controlled the entire market there would be no reason to keep prices so low. Walmart certainly does not have a monopoly on the market. Go from Target to Walmart and what price differences do you find. Strangely they are the same. They do not compete. Walmart controls the suppliers. That is deeper than controlling stores. They told suppliers ,if they wanted to continue selling to Walmart they would have to relocate production to China. From practically nothing ,a city of millions was erected. Their control is profound. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-public-option-fails-how-can-we-fix-the-insurance-industry/509721/43 "2009-09-14T18:27:54Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > … Isn’t this what happened to credit card companies?.. Lying lefties claim that North Dakota carefully crafted usury laws are what made Fargo, ND the credit card capital of the US. This is a lie! A lie! The Coen Brother’s movie of the same name made Fargo the glamour spot of the nation, VISA and BarkAmericard employees in New York and Connecticut were clamoring to relocate in the garden spot of the Big Empty. Could have been Minnesota, but we’ve got laws here that prohibit banks from actually feasting on the flesh of the living. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-public-option-fails-how-can-we-fix-the-insurance-industry/509721/44 "2009-09-14T19:50:36Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Go from Target to Walmart and what price differences do you find. Strangely they are the same. They do not compete. This is incorrect. Walmart almost always beats Target’s prices by some amount…usually small but sometimes substantial. I go to Target and pay the extra quarter so I don’t have to stand in line for an hour. But your point is incorrect. If Target and Walmart are not competing then they are either owned by the same parent company (which they are not), or they are price fixing (which would be illegal). Am I missing a 3rd possibility? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-public-option-fails-how-can-we-fix-the-insurance-industry/509721.md?page=2)