I watched an interview with President Obama by Diane Sawyer. I am not convinced by President Obama’s arguments. Who are these people that suggest we do nothing? These supposed people are the focus of Obama’s arguments. His argument goes along the lines of ‘the people who say we do nothing have the burden of proof.’ If these people do not exist, then there is no actual opposition to Obama’s argument, as framed by him. That is a pretty easy argument to win.
Furthermore, it problematically paints opponents of the Administration’s plan as people who want to do nothing. This seems to be the actual strategy of Obama’s health care strawman. This is not reality. There are Republicans who are proposing reforms that focus on fixing our current system through market reforms, adjusting the tax code, and nationalizing the insurance market.
[Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Reps. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Devin Nunes of California] proposal — called the Patients’ Choice Act — is to leave in place the tax deduction companies receive for providing employees with health insurance and to create a “Medi-Choice” tax rebate that will give individuals $2,200 and families $5,700 to spend on health insurance.
The rebate will make health insurance more affordable, especially for young people. It also will make health insurance portable, which will free people from being locked into jobs they hate because they are afraid of losing their health insurance.
One issue that bothers me that people don’t seem to be talking about is the impact of adding healthcare to the government’s budget. The current recession has made one thing abundantly clear, state budgets are not rock solid. This is not new news though. Yes, California is suffering incredibly bad right now and using federal money to finance its operation, but Minnesota has had several budget crises. What happens during a recession? States cut back. Right now, states are cutting healthcare benefits to children. The only way to avoid this is to make healthcare a dedicated part of the budget and let the federal government run deficits, if necessary, to finance it.
Again, I implore people to ask themselves this question: If competition and price-cutting is the answer, why don’t we foster an environment for healthcare that creates a more competitive industry?
The private market may not be able to handle this public-option because the market is so riddled with regulation. There are a lot of reforms that we have not tried yet. Before we commit the government to financing our healthcare system (a truly dangerous proposition), let’s try these things first.
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