Flying Pink Unicorns

As you all likely know, congress is seriously considering major health care reforms. In 1993-94, the Clinton administration created a body headed by then first lady Hillary to draft up a complex plan. The administration drafted it, and intended to stick as much of it as possible down the democratic congress' throat. The democrats gagged, and, in the face of the terrifying couple of Harry and Louise (google ads, Harry and Louise, health care) passed nothing at all. The GOP took control of both houses of congress in 1994, denied there was a serious health care problem that needed fixing, and the rest is history. Painful, expensive, life shattering history for millions of Americans who lack health insurance, or who find that when they need it most their insurance company slow pays their doctor, denies claims, denies authorizations for tests, demands pre-notification before an emergency room admission (presumably you should have known you would be rear-ended) and so on along the litany of things wrong with our health care system. Oh yeah, we spend nearly 50% more PER PERSON than any other country in the world (with the tiny exception of Switzerland, who we spend more than anyway) and we get outcomes that are slightly worse than our peer countries (Canada, France, the UK, Germany, Japan). I always thought conservatives believed in cost-benefit analysis. Well, our system costs more and generates slightly worse outcomes. Sounds like it needs fixing....

Anyway, the point of this post is to jolt you, my readers, into DOING SOMETHING. The burning issue of health care reform in the last few weeks is whether the Obama administration will compromise on what is known as a public option. Liberal and lefty democrats favor a single payer system, like Canada or France, whereby the government is the primary (or only) purchaser of health care. This is socialized medicine, which the right has made a dirty word, on a par with communist, terrorist, or gay married person. A bogeyman. Anyway, the democrats are, sadly, NOT proposing any such option, which would, among many other things, put the health insurance industry out of business. Instead, the mantra these days is that if you like your private insurance (and many Americans justifiably do) you can keep it, largely unaltered. But, if you don't like it, or you don't have private insurance, a PUBLIC OPTION allows you to buy into some form of government run or regulated option, such as Medicare.

Imho, a public option is CRUCIAL if health care reform is to really deliver any significant benefits to America. In fact, I would state that the issue of the public option is by far the most significant issue facing the congress and president these days. The economy will soon recover (more on that in a post coming soon), the shape of energy reform is becoming clear, but we could choose to omit a public option for health care and simply let a big opportunity to reform a part of our economy which badly needs reform, and allow millions of uninsured Americans to stay uninsured.

Howard Dean has created a web site that asks everyone to sign a petition supporting a public option for health care. I have signed this petition and I urge all of you to do the same.

http://standwithdrdean.com/