Random Musings: Healthcare, Democrats, and Shaun White
February 26th 2010 17:34
I am going to go off-topic with a few random blurbs here. Don't worry, I will get back to trade, immigration, and government later today.
Part 1: Health Care Reform
From what I have followed of the Health Care debate over the last few years, the intellectual level has been unsurprisingly low on both sides. Conservatives have been focusing on protecting Medicare, but opposing government-run health care. Liberals have just assumed that Medicare can be expanded to the national level with no changes in how it is run, even though there will no longer be a private sector to push costs over on to. Conservatives put way too much focus on "tort reform, tort reform, tort reform." Liberals ignore that the Massachusetts plan has been a complete failure in terms of cost. Conservatives ignore that Mitt Romney was the governor of Massachusetts when they adopted that health care plan. Both sides use the "X is popular, so it is good policy" reasoning (i.e. the Massachusetts plan/ Medicare). And on and on and on...
One ongoing problem with American politics is that it focuses way too much on Western Europe and ignores the rest of the world (what!?! there are countries outside of Europe worth paying attention to???) We are constantly told how little Europe spends on health care, but how they are actually healthier than Americans. Well, what if I told you that there was a country outside of Europe that spends half as much on health care, covers everyone, lives longer, and is richer? Sounds like a pretty decent fantasy world, right? Actually, it is a real place: Singapore. Courtesy of brilliant economist Scott Sumner, here is a summary of what a Singaporean-style health care would look like in the United States:
(Note: HSA's are Health Savings Accounts. Essentially, worker's would have a % of their income deducted out of their paycheck and placed in an account that would be used to pay for medical expenses. This money would carry-over from year to year.)
Why Liberals should support a plan like this:
1. EVERYONE IS COVERED. It is not the "comprehensive coverage" that Democrats argue for, but it would put the "insurance" back in "health insurance."
2. They claim that Republicans are in the pocket of Big Insurance. This plan gets rid of insurance companies.
3. Drastically reduces, or even eliminates, the chances of people going bankrupt from health bills, due to catastrophic coverage and subsidies.
Why Conservatives should support a plan like this:
1. PEOPLE GET TO SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY ON HEALTH CARE, via Health Savings Accounts
2. Medicare would become a sustainable model.
3. Lower costs of health care as the health care market becomes much closer to a free market (95% of the time there would be no third party paying for health expenses).
Part 2: Do Political Parties have REALLY short memories?
Part 3: Hilarious Shaun White Moment of Zen Video
Follow me on Twitter: @AGoldenDoor
Part 1: Health Care Reform
From what I have followed of the Health Care debate over the last few years, the intellectual level has been unsurprisingly low on both sides. Conservatives have been focusing on protecting Medicare, but opposing government-run health care. Liberals have just assumed that Medicare can be expanded to the national level with no changes in how it is run, even though there will no longer be a private sector to push costs over on to. Conservatives put way too much focus on "tort reform, tort reform, tort reform." Liberals ignore that the Massachusetts plan has been a complete failure in terms of cost. Conservatives ignore that Mitt Romney was the governor of Massachusetts when they adopted that health care plan. Both sides use the "X is popular, so it is good policy" reasoning (i.e. the Massachusetts plan/ Medicare). And on and on and on...
One ongoing problem with American politics is that it focuses way too much on Western Europe and ignores the rest of the world (what!?! there are countries outside of Europe worth paying attention to???) We are constantly told how little Europe spends on health care, but how they are actually healthier than Americans. Well, what if I told you that there was a country outside of Europe that spends half as much on health care, covers everyone, lives longer, and is richer? Sounds like a pretty decent fantasy world, right? Actually, it is a real place: Singapore. Courtesy of brilliant economist Scott Sumner, here is a summary of what a Singaporean-style health care would look like in the United States:
Let Medicare take over catastrophic insurance for everyone, and let HSAs cover 95% of health care bills. Then provide a subsidy to low income workers’ HSAs. Voila, no private insurance companies.
(Note: HSA's are Health Savings Accounts. Essentially, worker's would have a % of their income deducted out of their paycheck and placed in an account that would be used to pay for medical expenses. This money would carry-over from year to year.)
Why Liberals should support a plan like this:
1. EVERYONE IS COVERED. It is not the "comprehensive coverage" that Democrats argue for, but it would put the "insurance" back in "health insurance."
2. They claim that Republicans are in the pocket of Big Insurance. This plan gets rid of insurance companies.
3. Drastically reduces, or even eliminates, the chances of people going bankrupt from health bills, due to catastrophic coverage and subsidies.
Why Conservatives should support a plan like this:
1. PEOPLE GET TO SPEND THEIR OWN MONEY ON HEALTH CARE, via Health Savings Accounts
2. Medicare would become a sustainable model.
3. Lower costs of health care as the health care market becomes much closer to a free market (95% of the time there would be no third party paying for health expenses).
Part 2: Do Political Parties have REALLY short memories?
Part 3: Hilarious Shaun White Moment of Zen Video
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Moment of Zen - Shaun White's Tomahawk | ||||
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Follow me on Twitter: @AGoldenDoor
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