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The Shape of the Heathcare Reform Debate

Submitted by Pete on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 17:05

Great article by Yuval Levin and James Capretta on the coming fight over healthcare reform http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/476phyyl.asp 

Some takeaways from the article:

1.  Any attempt to insitute a pay or play system should be attacked as pushing people out of their current  plans (where they are usually satisfied with the care though not the cost) and forcing them to go to a government plan where their care decisions will be left up to that year's budget process and government bureaucrats.  Pay or play will mean losing your current plan and trading it in for government mandated rationing.

2.  Obama will try to use Congress as a screen.  The ugly details of the reform will be hashed out by the Democratic members of Congress.  The Republicans should not let Obama off the hook.  The worst part of any plan that seems to have the support of the congressional Democratic leadership should be laid at Obama's feet.  The political target of the Republicans should not be Pelosi or Reid or some back bencher who is sponsoring the legislation.  The target should be Obama and Obama's plans that will reduce the care that tens of millions of Americans are  getting.

3. Conservative popularizers like Beck, Limbaugh, and Hannity should go to school on Levin and Capretta's reform proposals and begin familiarizing the public with how a more free market oriented approach could cut premiums, and increase availability to the uninsured.

 

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I don't see how you pay for their plan either.

Submitted by thirdeblue on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 11:29.

If we give everyone let's say a $5,000 check to be used for healthcare, where does the U.S. Treasury get the money?  There are over 40 million Americans withough health care.  Quick math makes that 200 billion dollars.  How is 200 billion dollars any better or worse than the 150 billion dollars that by the authors claim will cost the Treasury for the Democrats plan?

The free market beat Clinton, but failed to provide better plan

Submitted by skayne on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 12:46.

I'm tired of hearing about free-market solutions to healthcare. We've had the free-market solution for healthcare since the insurance industry scuttled healthcare reform when Clinton tried to implement it. Most people have gotten less healthy because of the so called "free market".

That solution included covering less people, at exponentially higher cost, and less efficiently than ever before. The healthcare industry has nothing to gain by reforming anything. Government is going to have to take a role, or nothing will get done.