Frankenstein Goes to Congress
By GAIL COLLINS, NYT
Our question for today is: Why don’t the Republicans just throw in the towel? Really, this is not going well for anybody.
Lots of reasons. There’s Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the General Patton of the government shutdown. And people like the Republican in the House who said he and his colleagues “have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.” Also, Ted Cruz.
“So many Democrats have invoked my name as the root of all evil in the world,” Cruz complained on the floor of the Senate Friday. This is true. Senate Republicans merely regard him as the root of most of the evil in the world.
But here’s my long-term theory. Over the past few years, Republicans have terrified their most fervent followers about Obamacare in order to disguise the fact that they no longer knew what to say about their old bête noir, entitlements. Now they can’t turn the temperature down.
(More here.)
Our question for today is: Why don’t the Republicans just throw in the towel? Really, this is not going well for anybody.
Lots of reasons. There’s Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the General Patton of the government shutdown. And people like the Republican in the House who said he and his colleagues “have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.” Also, Ted Cruz.
“So many Democrats have invoked my name as the root of all evil in the world,” Cruz complained on the floor of the Senate Friday. This is true. Senate Republicans merely regard him as the root of most of the evil in the world.
But here’s my long-term theory. Over the past few years, Republicans have terrified their most fervent followers about Obamacare in order to disguise the fact that they no longer knew what to say about their old bête noir, entitlements. Now they can’t turn the temperature down.
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
1 Comments:
Collins is spot-on here: "But here’s my long-term theory. Over the past few years, Republicans have terrified their most fervent followers about Obamacare in order to disguise the fact that they no longer knew what to say about their old bête noir, entitlements. Now they can’t turn the temperature down". TP Republicans have a low-information voter base demanding unreasonable changes based on the bad information they've been spoon-fed for the last 3 years. Death panels, anyone? Git yer gubmint hands off my Medicare!
I just logged onto MNSURE to check for plans that our family will purchase this quarter. I'm self-employed and have been w/o coverage since 2005. My spouse and child currently have coverage thru BCBS. This plan is basically the same High Deductible plan now offered by BCBS via MNSURE but with a few small added benefits and is only $10 less than BCBS's MNSURE plan- $385/mo. So to get the SAME plan on MNSURE is essentially the SAME price. Preferred One and others offers basically the same plan for less, BTW and will likely get our business.
I think what these new exchanges will do is make the free-market Health Care system work better by making it easier to shop - to compare pricing and coverage in one place. The coverages are essentially the same within a metal level (Bronze, Silver, Gold,etc), so comparison shopping is much easier on the exchange. Trying to get the same comparison info pre-MNSURE would have taken hours spent on different provider sites.
Of course the insurance companies do what they can to resist any market clarity by never offering the exact same deductible levels as competition so you never get an exact apples-apples comparison. (Collusion?) Once a rating system is in place for insurance plans and for doctors, that will also help make the system even more efficient.
I think the ACA will, in the long run, replace our current system of businesses providing health care. Employers spend allot of $ on managing benefits now (i know, my business sells HRMS software to mid-sized companies), so if they can simply pay the employees what they subsidize in premiums, employers will save allot. Employees will have "freedom" of choice and become consumers who are fully invested in their health care choices. This is exactly what a market needs to work efficiently. Eventually High Deductible plans will become more popular and patients will begin to question doctors and hospitals on the necessity of procedures and costs. This model is what happened with pensions over the last 3 decades with a move from defined benefit to 401ks. No reason to think the same won't be true with health care.
Post a Comment
<< Home