...because Dems are too.
If you've heard your average Republican talk about health care reform bills floating around congress lately, you've probably heard accusations that they completely take over American health care, either by endless regulations or forcing everyone onto government plans by making coverage mandatory and also bankrupting private insurers.
If you've heard your average Democrat talk about health care reform bills floating around congress lately, you've probably heard excuses on why the bill isn't even what they'd prefer (generally a single payer system or some other far more extensive reform), but that we should support it anyways. The excuses generally range from the idea that this is some sort of "dent in the armor" to get "real" reform later to the idea that it is better than nothing to ensure costs go down.
Of course all of the above is either outdated, exaggerated, or flat out wrong. From factcheck.org:
The early House bill called for a federal insurance plan that would pay health care providers at Medicare rates, which are 20 percent to 30 percent less than what private plans pay on average, according to the Lewin Group. If this type of federal plan, which would be substantially cheaper than private insurance, were open to everyone within three years, it could lure as many as 114 million away from private insurance, Lewin estimated. The revised bill calls for a federal plan that pays negotiated rates, putting its premiums in line with those of private plans.
The Lewin Group has not released an analysis of the latest House bill, but it did model what would happen under a similar situation, with a federal plan paying negotiated rates. Lewin found that such a plan would result in 10.4 million to 12.5 million people moving off of private plans, in favor of the "public option." Why the big drop? Because those with private insurance wouldn’t save much money, if any, by switching to the federal plan.
CBO analyzed the revised House bill, and it came up with even lower numbers. CBO estimated that 6 million Americans total would join the so-called "public plan" by 2019 — and that premiums would be "somewhat higher" than the average private plan premiums offered through an insurance exchange. CBO said the plan would be most attractive to the less healthy members of the population, forcing premiums higher, despite the fact that the federal plan would save some money on administrative costs.
In one fell swoop it knocks out the government takeover and savings memes as it notes that the medicare rates in earlier versions are no longer in the current bills, which prevents the public option from actually being much different in cost of care issues than the private insurance it would be competing with. By some estimates the public option may end up being more expensive and thus less competitive.
And as for the future holding some magic remedy for "real" reform later, and thereby justifying GOP concerns that this is just a first step towards the government takeover they fear, while being the single payer or other far more extensive government plan the Democrats really want... neither worry nor hope is a big secret. While Democrat leaders dismiss the notion in public to allay fears, the activists and prior statements of the leaders make it clear that this is what they hope for. But the reason they're not taking advantage of their current super-majorities in both houses of Congress and control of the White House with a resident sympathetic to the cause (and advocate of the same while on the campaign trail) is because it's simply not politically feasible. Such hopes (or worries if you're on the other side of the aisle) rest on the idea of some super-duper uber-liberal majorities to pull off in the future. A future that no expert on either side of the aisle is expecting to come to fruition any time in the short or long term.
If they could pull it off, the time is now. Activists on the left are fully aware of this... and doing everything they can to try to do so now. Activists on the right are fully aware of this... and doing everything they can to shut down anything of the sort while the Democrats hold such vast power in this current Congressional term.
So what are we left with?
We have bills that create a public option that isn't very competitive, if at all, with private insurance.
We have bills that signify a death knell for any sort of single payer or more extensive government reform of health care in the foreseeable future.
We have bills that do little nothing to address the increasing costs of health care and the adverse effects it is having on the economy and stability of future government budgets on all levels of government, let alone any real benefits in the short term for the current recession.
We have bills that do little to nothing to address the boomer and other crunches coming with medicare and medicaid beneficiaries.
And We have bills that do little to nothing to reform current health care programs, such as the Veterans Affairs and Medicare/caid systems, that are in dire need of improvement.
But it's not all bad. The mandatory coverage and subsidies will ensure far more people are covered that previously would have been unable to get it. This comes at the cost of forcing a lot of people into coverage who would otherwise not get coverage, adding to the profits of insurance companies... so much so they're unconcerned with the provisions that end denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, an otherwise typical thing in any other type of insurance. You won't find too many auto insurers that will pay for a car you already smashed to bits, or home insurers that will take you after your home burned down... the risk is 100%, and taking such folks wouldn't be "insuring" them, i.e. it'd be a boneheaded business decision.
But people don't really want
insurance for their health care. They want health care
coverage. It still boggles the mind when people get mad at
insurance companies for being insurance companies and not pay-my-bills-for-me companies as if they were a government safety net program.
The bills also open up interstate competition for insurance, which could have some net positives, though the nationwide standardization of coverage minimums will put a damper on that meaning much to the average joe who can only afford the minimum with or without subsidies.
Unfortunately none of the bills really do much to address the rising costs which are overwhelmingly on the provider end of the spectrum... and as noted above, they really don't do much on the insurer/coverage end of the spectrum either. Nor do any of them address the already heavily problematic government programs already in place that, in spite of recent improvements here and there, generally have a mixed history with some real nightmares rivaling the horror stories being pumped out by current proponents of reform of the private industry.
What's clear is that the Democrats are missing a clear opportunity to attempt real reform now, something shockingly admitted by Democrats themselves if you talk to them about it outside of some partisan pissing match. And while the Republican opposition generally seems to be misguided or overwhelmingly based in hysterical fears (to be fair somewhat grounded upon the stated hopes of Democrats themselves) there's little reason to support the current bills (also, ironically enough, echoed by the Democrats themselves).
For all the costs and effort being put into unrealistic hopes of some magic fix later in the support of this bill, it's an unnecessary waste at a time when the government cannot afford to waste anymore resources on non-solutions to a very real economic crisis.
