Dropping the ball on health care

The Democratic push for health care reform is going badly.

Two reform bills have gone through their respective House of Representatives and Senate committees with no Republican support, and President Barack Obama said he wanted a bill on his desk by now.

There are serious problems with how health care is delivered in this country, but the prospects for reform seem to be slipping once again.

Despite a rather unhelpful opposition, this is mostly the fault of the Democrats.
It is true that several Republicans have been spreading misinformation – almost outright lying – about reform proposals.

Many in the GOP are clearly thinking along the lines of Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who said health care reform could be Obama’s Waterloo.

This is disappointing, especially because several Republicans have come up with decent health care policies when they thought they had to.

Sen. John McCain’s plan to replace the tax exemption for employer-based insurance with a tax credit for anyone who has insurance was one of them.

Obama misrepresented the plan during the election, running ads that claimed “instead of fixing health care (McCain) wants to tax it.” He and other Democrats are now miffed that similarly disingenuous tactics are being employed against their proposals.

In fact, most on the left are blaming their woes on the likes of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who suggested government run “death panels” would turn down care for her child with Down syndrome.

While the public has grown increasingly skeptical about the Democrat’s health care plan, the town hall protestors throwing out accusations of Nazism hardly represent why. Most Democrats, especially Obama, have just been lousy salesmen.

An unsure public has not been able to find answers from Obama, who has often stuck to agreeable principles like “reduce costs” and “guarantee choice” in his rhetoric.
Meanwhile, the writing of the health care bill has largely been outsourced to liberal leaders in Congress with safe seats who have hardly tried to compromise with their conservative wing and more moderate Democrats.

There is increasing talk of dropping the public insurance option in order to at least get some sort of reform passed.

A public option would not be a disaster, as can be seen in Canada, with it’s completely government-run insurance.

But the public option is also not necessary, as can be seen in the Netherlands, which regulates private insurers to ensure universal coverage.

Without the public option, the Democratic plan is likely to focus on a mandate to purchase insurance with subsidies for the poor and a national health insurance exchange which would prevent insurers from denying coverage or denying the sick.
That plan would be effective if expensive. The government cannot mandate private insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions without helping them manage the risk.

Such a plan also might be able to hold together the Democrats’ massive majority – but they should act soon.

The ball will never be more in their court.