Republicans and even some Democrats are out to scare you about Medicare for All. They say it’s going to dismantle health care as we know it and it will cost way too much. Rubbish. The typical American family now spends $6,000 on health insurance premiums each year. Add in the co-payments and deductibles that doctors, … Continue reading »
TNR’s Jonathan Cohn makes an important point on reconciliation
At yesterday’s bi-partisan health summit, Republicans repeatedly called on the Democrats not to use budget reconciliation to finalize the bill. John McCain said that doing so would have “cataclysmic effects“. Jonathan Cohn at TNR makes an important point: If the House votes for health care reform, it will do so by passing the “Patient Protection … Continue reading »
Slouching Toward Health Care Reform
“Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the better,” says the President and congressional insiders when confronted with the sorry spectacle of a health-care bill whose scope and ambition continue to shrink, and whose long-term costs to typical Americans continue to grow. They’re right, of course. But by the same logic, neither the White House … Continue reading »
A step forward
The health care proposals under consideration would take an important step towards expanding access to affordable health care for all Americans. Both the House and the Senate bills would reform the health insurance market so that no one could be denied coverage or charged higher prices based on pre-existing conditions. They place new standards on … Continue reading »
Call in the Economists!
The health care debate has so far produced remarkably little in the way of cost-saving strategies. Instead, there has been a kind of placeholder claim that “single payer” will do the job. Certainly, it is not hard to see how “single payer” will cut prices for some people. After all, when hospitals treat the uninsured … Continue reading »