Here are some links to stories that I've missed earlier this week:

Parsing the health reform arguments, George Newman. An economist offers short evaluations of a dozen commonly heard statements on health care policy. These include ""We need a public plan to keep the private plans honest," to which Newman says, "shelter is just as important, so we should start public housing to keep private builders honest. Oops, we already have that. And that is exactly the point. Think of everything you know about public housing, the image the term conjures up in your mind. If you like public housing you will love public health care."

Why it's easy to steal from Medicare: The law doesn't encourage vigorous anti-fraud enforcement, which sends spending up and administrative expenses (as a portion of overall spending), low. Also, "Medicare and Medicaid are forbidden by law from excluding substandard providers, unless they're criminals."

Senate bill fines people for refusing health coverage: A congressional reform proposal would require you to have insurance--and presumably, define what that is. So much for an "independence" day; your betters will tell you what you must buy, simply for being human.

Health care sharing ministries in WORLD magazine: You want out of the box thinking on health care? How about alternatives to insurance?

Low reimbursements:"If doctors are already reluctant to participate in existing government run plans like Medicare and Medicaid, adding an additional public plan could discourage them even further."

Wal-Mart supports health plan that will destroy small business: "This is all about introducing a bill that will harm its competitors, particularly businesses of a slightly lower size that can't buy health insurance on the same scale. The company already has a major price and sourcing edge over its competitors, and this law would allow it to exploit that even more." And then, "this kind of rule will have any effect is if it goes after small and medium-sized firms. The large firms on Wal-Mart's scale are almost all offering health insurance to some degree."

Wal-Mart joins the rank of health-care corporatists: "Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer, can afford the costs imposed by an employer mandate. Smaller competitors are likely to find it harder -- and they're not too happy about Wal-Mart's announcement."