I keep reading how this reform is dead. We have Texas Republicans in Congress claiming if the Dems pass a plan they will be back in power and repeal it. Yet, the only alternative they seem to have to offer is Health Savings Plans…Call me stupid, but exactly where do health savings plans save this American Health Care System?
BEATS ME…. Kevin Drum recommends we take a moment to get “back to basics.”
Let’s recap: the United States spends about twice as much on healthcare as any other developed nation in the world and in return receives just about the worst care. Can someone remind me again why there’s even a debate about whether we should put up with this?
Reading this, it reminded me just how challenging the right’s sales pitch was going into the debate over reform. In some ways, conservatives couldn’t possibly win the argument — the status quo is ridiculous. We spend too much and get too little. Tens of millions of Americans go without coverage, and thousands die as a result of not having insurance. The existing private system screws over consumers, is a drag on the economy, and undercuts wage growth. The two groups of Americans best served by the status quo are seniors (in a Canadian-style, socialized system) and veterans (in a British-style, government-run system). Everyone else is in, at best, a precarious position.
Left unchecked, the dysfunctional, inefficient, patchwork health care system threatens to bankrupt the country. Reform was a no-brainer.
I have to admit, the opponents of reform are masterful in the way they can confuse the argument. They have put the proponents of reform on the defensive since day one. At this rate we will not see any real change in the system. The only thing that looks like a forgone conclusion is that the insurance industry is about to get a real dose of government stimulus at the taxpayer’s expense. Mandates that everyone must have insurance, government subsidies for the underpaid portion of the working public, government payments for the unemployed, and no controls on costs…What a win-win for the industry…
