The usual argument that the health care central planners make is that a government takeover of health care would save money by focusing on wellness, cost saving measures, and consumer education. We need a public takeover, they say, because the private sector doesn’t do this.

And, to be fair, the central planning devotees usually believe what they say because they have no idea what the private sector is actually doing. Their contact with it is limited to consumer goods and stories in leftie media. Living on other people's money provides a nice, comfy, cocoon.

Teary-eyed Wall Street Journal front page articles on the failures of private insurance aside (and I’m still waiting for the profiles of failures in government controlled health systems—Walter Reed went down the memory hole really, really fast), it turns out that that private sector health plans are already doing the things that the planners want.

It is time to start talking about this. And to make the obvious point that eliminating private health insurance and health care will slow innovation to the snail’s pace that exists in health care paradises like Britain, where they are still trying to figure out how to properly clean hospitals and give doctors a place to wash their hands.

To get started, you might look at Innovations in Chronic Care, a report from America’s Health Insurance Plans detailing some of the experiments that are underway.

Note to health care reformers: Want consumer education, waste reduction, case management, nurse hotlines, and wellness programs? Support consumer-directed account based reform.

Want central planning for health care? Think up another set of excuses.