Let’s assume you believe that a modern economically-advanced society has a moral obligation to provide basic health care to its inhabitants, no matter what their income.
Assume also that the existing health care system isn’t really a system at all, but a mishmash of workplace insurance plans, individual plans, no plans, emergency room services, Medicare, Medicaid, and HMO memberships,
To give everyone health care, the government could institute a system in which it will pay a certain amount for various medical procedures. You might be asked to pay something toward your bill, but the government will bear most of the burden for treatment of major illnesses. This is the so-called “single payer plan,” advocated by many liberals, but seen as “socialism” by many on the right. Politically it’s a no go.
The only other option is to patch a program together using private insurance companies, with government help in paying for the insurance. There is no way that can be done without an amazingly complicated set of rules. That is a major drawback with the Affordable Care Act.
Now overlay that complicated law with: (a) a website that didn’t work from day one; (b) deliberate attempts to sabotage the entire law by not instituting state exchanges; (c); a lack of community spirit among young people, who don’t want to pay anything toward insurance; (d) an overly optimistic administration that minimized the problems; (f) a congress which doesn’t have any desire to fix the bill, but only to kill it.
One criticism I have of Obama is that he spent all of his political capital on healthcare. We were in the midst of the great recession. He should have studied FDR more closely. We needed a New NEW DEAL.
ReplyDeleteFrom early reports, it looks like Dems will focus on Income Inequality and the middle class in 2014. They have to. Dems win and always will win on these issues.