Obama, Reid, Pelosi and Co. have deluged us with the refrain that health insurance companies are ripping us off, and thus need more "competition" from the government in order to lower their prices.

Well, facts have again stood in the way of their claims. It turns out that the health insurance industry is, after all, barely profitable. Hardly the sign of an industry that is raising prices simply because it can:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Quick quiz: What do these enterprises have in common? Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo? Answer: They're all more profitable than the health insurance industry. In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up."

Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones.

Profits barely exceeded 2 percent of revenues in the latest annual measure.

Two percent. Wow.

So then, what it is that is forcing companies to charge higher premiums? Well, one is the fact that, through mandates, the government forces the companies to cover certain things that neither the companies wish to cover nor consumers demand - because it increases costs for both. Another is that health care is more expensive than it needs to be due to a broken tort system. Yet another problem is the fact that government regulations prevent companies from competing across state lines and thus reduce costs for everyone.

If you'll notice, all three reasons for higher premiums I listed here are directly resultant from government interference and incompetence. The solution is thus hardly more government. The solution is, as is usually the case, the reduction of government interference in the free market.