John Fund writes a nice piece summarizing the links and similarities between Hillary’s new health care proposals and those that are now bogged down in the California legislature. Fund thinks that the Arnie measure is going to fail--or pass in a form that is completely unrecognizable--and that this does not bode well for Mrs. Clinton or her plan. Further, he argues that the discussion it generates will bring out enemies on all sides. Look at the nature of the opposition regarding Arnie’s plan. It’s not just Conservative Republicans who are irritated. It’s coming from all sides--including doctors, nurses, the left and populist anti-immigration forces. In short, it really is one giant political mess. Fixing health care may require a much stronger pill than Mrs. Clinton is inclined to swallow.
I'm pretty sick of conservatives of all stripe (including John Fund) conceding to Dems on health care. Hello! Hello! Is anyone out there in sanity land? 1) There is no health care "crisis". A "crisis" would be 200 million people without any health insurance. 2) Even if there is a "crisis" so what? IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT'S JOB TO GIVE YOU HEALTH CARE, FOOD, A PLACE TO LIVE-GOVERNMENT CANNOT SOLVE YOUR INDIVIDUAL PROBLEMS.
Even intimating, like Fund does, that "Fixing health care may require a stronger pill than Mrs. Clinton is inclined to swallow" sounds like a concession. HEY! HELLO! HEALTH DOES NOT NEED FIXING! AND EVEN IF IT DID, NOT BY GOVERNMENT! Please, everyone just get a grip!
tiger, it seems to be a democratic problem, not a concession to Democrats. American people are very concerned about paying for medical care. I agree, we do not actually have a health care problem in America, but we do have a problem with paying for health care. For a variety of reasons, it is very expensive to see a doctor if you do not have health insurance, and God help you if you are sick or injured, have to go to a hospital and do not have insurance. However, getting private insurance is not at all easy unless you have a job that gives it to you. The problem is not health care, but paying for health care.
Would you care to tell someone with a potentially terminal illness "IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT'S JOB TO GIVE YOU HEALTH CARE, FOOD, A PLACE TO LIVE-GOVERNMENT CANNOT SOLVE YOUR INDIVIDUAL PROBLEMS." in which you might as well be saying, "GO DIE! IT IS NOT MY PROBLEM, WHY DO YOU DEMAND ANYTHING OF ME." which it is not, I agree. However, could you face someone and tell him that?
I find that I cannot. I do agree that government ought to get out the business of paying for health care, (and the other things you mention) because it has distorted the system of paying for same and has really not helped at all, rather making everything much worse.
Yes, paying for health care, but also the overall costs of health care. The problems go together. Given the financing mechanisms that exist, these problems cannot be solved without the participation of state and federal governments. Tiger, your abstractions won't help. This is not an "individual problem."
But, Steve, many of those overall costs are in place because of government intervention and a highly bureaucratized system. Nurses complain of spending time on paperwork that could be spent on patient care, and yet that paperwork is mandatory because of federal regulation. Patient care can be optional in the circumstances, which is an absurdity. Hospital administration costs are very high, because of meeting federal mandates and coping with complex, sometimes contradictory, regulations.
I don't have time to go on about this or find references (I probably ought not be blogging at all these days, as I can't do it properly) but government is a problem here, and surely cannot be the solution, too. Every fix made over the years that I have been aware of this issue seems to have made the situation worse.