And What Next ?
Health care is in season beginning with January 1, 2011. It will probably prove to be a long season. Many victories will be claimed but in the end, real politicians will treat the subject more as a tar baby and be careful to use nonspecific words. They will put in place little action.
John Boehner will stand tall and pronounce “we have the best health care system in the world and unless we repeal President Obama’s reform, those days are numbered”. Former Governor Mike Huckabee says already “Obamacare is atrocious and must be repealed”. Mike spares us any details on what, if anything, should replace it.
This is the whole point. The US health care system, in place when President Obama took office was good (not great). It was going broke fast, and was on a path to become more and more out of reach for even more Americans in the next few years. That system was content to deny some people medical coverage for what ever reasons suited the profit insurance companies. How can that represent “the best health care system in the world”?
Opponents to President Obama’s reform argue from a knowledge starved basis. In World Health Organization surveys, the US rates well down the list of the best health care systems. To be sure the US health care system has some of the best health care providers in the world, but these facilities serve only a fraction of the population and then only if you have adequate insurance. Boehner and other opponents misinform Americans when they pompously proclaim how good our system is when it is a system inherently designed discriminate on the ability to pay. On top of that, it cost too much by any standard, and produces outcomes relative to the American population that are far from the best.
I suppose if I were John Boehner and had the Federal worker’s health insurance plan I would be quite satisfied. I would also feel that there should be a limit on malpractice awards and would support the sale of health insurance across State boarders as a means to lower insurance costs. (Frankly these changes might be worthwhile, but they would not effect either the quality of health care or the number of people covered).
So, when the politicians begin next year to huff and puff about the great health care abomination, just listen carefully to what they say should replace the current reform legislation. Most likely they will gloss over that important detail.
So, just say, and what next?
This entry was posted on December 30, 2010 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: health care, health care reform, john boehner, obamacare, public option, single payer, world health organization
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