The Heritage Foundation asked if they could post a response here to my earlier post. Without hesitation, of course they can. As I said earlier, I remain a fan of the Heritage Foundation despite this disagreement.
— Erick

The Heritage Foundation has been clear and forthright in denouncing the health care co-op idea floated by liberals in Washington. As we have said on numerous occasions, their proposal is simply a cartel that would stifle competition, not foster it. It is clear to most reasoned observers that liberals plan to use the concept of co-ops as a backdoor for the introduction of government-run health care, which has already been rejected by the American people via the “public option.”

Since we have written extensively on the concept of free market co-ops, there are people across the political spectrum who will selectively quote our research and writings to misrepresent our position. Erick Erickson, unfortunately, does so today, misstating our writings. It’s ironic, because we are on the same side on this issue.

Erickson is right to be wary of liberals trying to hide behind the language of choice and competition to sell their version of co-ops as anything other than government-run health care. We should know, since we have been warning about this hoax since Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kent Conrad first introduced the idea. Erickson’s line that “the co-op proposal right now will not foster competition, it will just insert the government referee into the health insurance business” could have come straight out of our own writing. Indeed, in a post on our blog The Foundry as early as August 6, The Heritage Foundation wrote:

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