I have to say I was a bit surprised watching Meet the Press this morning to hear the pundits on both sides of the political spectrum discussing the Wyden-Bennett Healthy Americans Act as an alternative to the more partisan Democratic health care reform bills already on the table in the House and Senate HELP Committee.
The Republican spin seemed to be that, "We've always been for Wyden-Bennett, it's real reform."
The Democratic spin was something like, "Suddenly you're for Wyden-Bennett, where have you been all this time?"
To me the good news is that the debate may finally be getting to the question of what real health care reform is. As I have posted on this blog before, I am concerned that we are really on our way to a massive entitlement expansion without actually changing the health care system in a way that will make it affordable.
Wyden-Bennett is a serious health care reform proposal.
Hopefully, finally bringing Wyden-Bennett into the mainstream of the debate means we are about to have a serious discussion about systemic health care reform.
I hope it isn't just Republicans, far too many of whom have been sitting on their hands for months, grasping at something to make them look like they have a credible alternative.
But if they are just grasping for something to believe in they at least have found something credible.
All previous posts on Wyden-Bennett "Healthy Americans Act"
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3 comments:
I think Ezra Klein has it right on this:
"It would be nice if there were seven Republican votes sitting ready to sign onto the Healthy Americans Act. That would make it an excellent potential compromise. But having followed this legislation for years now, I've seen no evidence of that fact. Instead, Republicans sign on with the caveat that they oppose the things the bill actually says it will do, but support the general idea that Republicans should be consulted on health care reform. Indeed, the lesson of the Healthy Americans Act, as I've seen it, has been that there are a lot of Republican votes for the appearance of being for something on health reform. But there aren't many Republican votes for actual health reform."
For all the complaints of the wasteful spender hawks on both sides of the aisle, the pieces of reform that would actually have a chance of 'bending the curve' are precisely what they oppose.
At least we can start using words accurately - up to now, we have been talking about health INSURANCE reform. But even the US can't afford to forever pay doctors on a piecework basis for services desired by consumers who are insulated from the true cost
For more details on the merits of Wyden-Bennett, see my posts on THCB (June 22) or reformupdate.blogspot.com (June 19).
It's not perfect, but it's way ahead of other congressional proposals.
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