Henry Lamb: 2 quick ways to lower health-care costs

"Sen. John Rockefeller issued a statement claiming that '… insurance companies are awash in profits.' In reality, the health insurance industry stands 35th among Fortune magazine's profitability rankings, with an average profit of 2.2 percent.

"Sen. Chuck Schumer doesn't think much of profit, either. He has proposed fees (taxes) that will extract $75 billion from private insurance companies over the next decade. Since taxes, or fees, are a cost of doing business that is simply passed along to the consumer, Schumer's idea is nothing more than an indirect tax that individuals will have to pay. But by applying the tax to insurance companies, Obama's promise not to increase taxes for people earning less than $250,000 can go unchallenged.

"It is clear that Rockefeller, Schumer and the majority of Democrats want to reduce the cost of health care by squeezing profit out of the health insurance industry. This, of course, would kill the health insurance industry and leave the task of providing health-care services up to the government. This is the ultimate goal. Whether it's called 'public option,' 'co-op exchange,' or 'single-payer,' the goal is the same: Get rid of the profit private companies earn, and let government provide the service."