I listened to President Obama's speech to Congress and the American people last night. There is no doubt that the president is a great public speaker, and last night he again proved that. The speech was inspiring, and effectively pointed out the need to fix our broken health care system. I just wish his plan had been as good as his speech, but it was not.
There are two basic sides to the health care debate. Liberals and progressives would like to see a single-payer health insurance system. Conservatives would like to see health care reform die an ugly death and want to continue our current pitiful system. Sadly, the president still seems to think bipartisanship is possible, and the plan he has come up with is a mess that's populated with ideas from all sides.
The president seems to be living in a dream world if he really thinks he can get any significant Republican support for health care reform. They have made it very clear they will vote nearly unanimously against any real reform. They have already decided that opposing the president's health care reform will win them seats in the off-year elections, and that is more important to them than helping ordinary Americans receive the health care they need. Bipartisanship on health care reform is dead and cannot be revived.
It has also been evident for some time now that most Democrats do not have the political courage (backbone) to support a single-payer health insurance system. That leaves us with the president's plan. Personally, I think it's barely adequate, and there are at least two parts of it that worry me somewhat.
First is the bone tossed to Republicans about reforming medical malpractice. What does this mean? Does it mean that doctors and hospitals will not be held responsible for gross mistakes that seriously injure or kill their patients? Will we not be able to sue a drunk doctor that turns a fairly healthy patient into a quadreplegic? If so, then I cannot support this plan.
The other regards the public option for insurance. The president has played this down and buried it in a plan for "insurance coops". Personally, I think this may be one of the most necessary and critical of all the reforms. Insurance costs will not come down enough to allow many Americans to purchase insurance without a real public option. Coops alone will not do the job. Without a public option I cannot support the plan, because it will just result in a huge payday for insurance companies, without insuring all American citizens.
As I said, the president's plan is barely adequate. If it can be passed intact, I support it. But if parts are excised from it by Blue Dogs and Republicans (especially the public insurance option), then it will be little more than a band-aid on a gunshot wound -- not worth doing.
Anything is NOT better than nothing. An inadequate plan is actually worse than doing nothing, because it will push real reform many years down the road without solving the serious health care problems.
My favorite part of the President's speech last night:
ReplyDelete"You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, and the vulnerable can be exploited."
Of course, finding that "leavening hand of wise policy" takes the wisdom of Solomon - something that I'm afraid is in short supply on both sides of the aisle in Washington these days.
My least favorite part of the President's speech last night:
ReplyDelete"I received one of those letters a few days ago. It was from our beloved friend and colleague, Ted Kennedy. He had written it back in May, shortly after he was told that his illness was terminal. He asked that it be delivered upon his death."
"... 'What we face,' he wrote, 'is above all a moral issue...'"
The last thing in the world I need right now is to be lectured about morals by Edward Moore Kennedy from wherever his immortal soul finally ended up, thank you very much.
I think Obama is the shit...
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