If you’re following the news lately, you know that socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City is opening five city-owned grocery stores across the five boroughs. The estimated initial cost of these five stores is $70 million.
According to the New York Post, the cost of these stores could be $206 million in just the first few years. This estimate is from the GOP State Comptroller Joseph Hernandez. He breaks down the cost into three major categories: $70 million for construction, $106 million in operating costs and an estimated $30 million in lost revenue from nearby bodegas and grocery stores over the next three years.
The impact on privately-owned grocery stores and bodegas is difficult to estimate, but Hernandez, a former Wall Street executive, warns up to 67 local stores could face closure due to the subsidized competition.
This is known as a “public option” in the vocabulary of politicians. It means a publicly financed (taxpayers) option will compete with the privately owned competition. Since the public option is backed by the taxpayers and doesn’t need to make a private, it is an unfair competition. The public option can undercut the prices of those private stores who must make a profit to stay in business. When the public option loses money, it simply looks to the taxpayers for more financing. It doesn’t have to worry about making a profit.
It won’t take long for the public option to win this competition and put the privately owned stores out of business.
I bring all this to your attention because the same scenario will play itself out in the healthcare industry if the government ever comes up with a “public option.” This is a very real possibility that was seriously considered by Democrats when they devised the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). Fortunately, this idea lost favor even with Democrats in 2010 when that legislation was passed. But don’t believe for a minute it has been rejected forever.
Medicare for All is a socialized medicine scheme first promoted by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Although initially rejected, this bad idea has been resurrected by Sanders and those socialist politicians who have recently appeared on the campaign trail including Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson, and other established socialists like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC).
Medicare for All is essentially a “public option” proposal that will eventually put all private insurance companies out of business. When you eliminate the competition in any industry, grocery stores or healthcare, you will get less access to the product, poorer quality of the product, and higher costs to the taxpayers.
We cannot afford to let this happen in grocery stores, let alone in an industry as vital as healthcare. Don’t be fooled! There is no such thing as a free lunch. When you accept government control of grocery stores, or healthcare, you will pay dearly in the end.
