“What the hell?”

That’s what a high-paid government director said to an audience of local small businesspeople upon learning that a private business was planning to offer a service that would compete with a government program.

According to ConvergenceRI, it’s a direct quote from Christine Ferguson, director of Rhode Island’s ObamaCare health benefits exchange, HealthSourceRI.  Stephen Farrell, who runs UnitedHealthcare of New England, had just announced that his company is planning to open a health insurance exchange for businesses and their employees.  And that’s the response from the woman who’s been given around $100 million by the federal government in order to try her hand at a healthcare-related start-up business at taxpayer expense.

She went on to express a view of competition that must only make sense in the halls of the bureaucracy:

“On the exchange, you can choose Blue Cross, Neighborhood and United – and next year, Tufts.

“[On the UnitedHealthcare exchange], the only option is with United, the only option given to employer [and employees] is within United.” …

“Let’s be clear. It’s a strategy that makes sense for their perspective – if they want to keep market share.

“What we want to do is open up the options, and to drive, from a consumer and provider perspective, competition.”

So “competition” is when all options are offered through a government monopoly.

But yes, let’s be clear.  This is a government agent making a competitive sales pitch to a group of potential clients, making derogatory statements about a private company’s offering, and it’s entirely inappropriate.

Going forward, how can United or the people of Rhode Island have any confidence in the fairness of the taxation and regulatory activities of the government?  (It’s a trick question; no Rhode Islander should have such confidence, as is proven again and again.)