Bad analogy of the day

ABC's John Stossel enthusiastically endorses this health care nonsense from a Wall Street Journal op-ed:

"We need a public plan to keep the private plans honest."

But then why stop there? Eating is even more important than health care, so shouldn't we have government-run supermarkets "to keep the private ones honest"? After all, supermarkets clearly put profits ahead of feeding people. And we can't run around naked, so we should have government-run clothing stores to keep the private ones honest.

Supermarkets make money by selling people food.  Clothing stores make money by selling people clothes. If they don't give people food/clothing, they don't get money.

Insurance companies, on the other hand, make money by selling people insurance -- and they make even more money by selling insurance, and then denying claims.

Surely even John Stossel can see the difference.