Should Obama keep using Postal Service as model for healthcare reform? Sure, say conservative critics

President Obama is urging Americans not to worry if the federal government dispenses healthcare insurance. After all, he argues, competition from the government-subsidized U.S. Postal Service hasn't hurt FedEx or UPS.

"If you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right?" he asked last week at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H. "No, they are. It's the post office that's always having problems."

Conservatives think the White House model is more revealing than the president might intend.

As the Washington Times editorialized this morning: "If the president considers the Postal Service as an example, we should all be scared." The case: "Despite numerous advantages that FedEx and UPS could only dream of having, the Postal Service loses money."

Clearly, Americans have moved on from snail mail -- using e-mail for birthday cards and paying their bills online. CNN commentator Bob Greene can get all nostalgic over Saturday delivery -- "as certain as the sun coming up in the morning," he writes -- but the truth is the Postal Service expects to lose $7 billion this year and is looking to close 10% of its 32,741 post offices nationwide.

Conservative critics argue that the Postal Service losses -- and inefficiencies -- are the real worry in the president's analogy. "If you have an urgent piece of mail you need delivered, life or death, who are you going to call?" asks the conservative Heritage Foundation. "Everyone saying the government ... please raise your hands."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Getty Images

No postage required to reach us, just click here and receive Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot

Comments

[Now I am worried]

Now we should all be scared..... the Postal Service? Are you kidding? Yes the postal service competes with the private sector and they use profits from their monopoly on first class mail to subsidize all of their other services to under price both Brown and Purple. They are cheating against the private sector. This is exactly how they will under price against the private insurers and force them out of business and force the entire country onto a government socialist program. The Postal Service is doing all of that and still they are going to post $7 billion in losses this year. This shows just how out of touch and unprepared to lead this country this guy really is.

[Krista]

If the government wants to push their healthcare bill down our throats, why don't they give themselves the exact same healthcare? If it's good enough for the American people, why doesn't our government step up and say it's good enough for them as well? I would actually like to have their healthcare plan. Shouldn't this be our option? After all, the last time I checked, our "elected" officials work for us and not the other way around.

[steve rodriguez]

Green job kill! We need more regular jobs, open the steel mills, the coal mines, start manufacturing more without putting all those suppressing environmental regulation on the factory owners! What good is going green, if nobody has a job!!!

[TerryNeese]

The Postal Service is a perfect example of a government run service that competed against the private sector and lost. The private sector does it better, faster, cheaper, and with greater reliability. Obama is comparing healthcare to the Postal Service, and is showing the United States how much they actually stand to lose. Are we really going to invest billions of dollars into something that is doomed to fail? Why don’t we just skip that step and look to the free market in the first place? Obamacare doesn’t make sense. There are other ways to make healthcare more “universal” without relying on the government to pay for, run, and make all of the decisions for us. Lets loosen up restrictive federal laws that prevent small businesses from reaching across state lines to look for healthcare. This will increase free market competition and lower costs. Small businesses should also be allowed to band together to spread risk and increase bargaining power, also a powerful cost reducer. In addition, companies should be able to purchase individually owned plans, like health savings accounts, for their employees using pretax dollars. This way, health insurance is portable, and even when people are laid off or are switching jobs, they will still be covered. The NCPA is working hard to create free market solutions to public policy problems! www.familyissues.ncpa.org

[Kevin Neugebauer]

This is just another classic example that big government is a bad idea. He is admiting that the private sector is better that government.

Shouldn't he be worried about putting American's back to work? It is increasingly obvious that he should resign!

Palin rips Obama on Oil deal! Read about it at:
http://www.showusobama.com/

[Seni]

Yes, the postal service raise postage charges every year but they are still closing many offices and going broke.I fear this is what would happen if we have government healthcare. Obama does not have money to fund his Obamacare. He attacks the insurance companies and medicare. Old people like my aunt worked all their lives, paid into medicare, they deserve their payback when they get old. What person in their right mind want the government to interfere in an important issue like their healthcare taking away their control and privacy with their doctor? Only a beggar or a fool. Obama, put people to work then they can buy their own healthcare.