The Daily Plunge

Over the past few weeks there’s been a lot written about what’s wrong with government reform and for good reason. However, there are some common sense reforms that most Americans can agree on; just don’t count on the White House pursuing any of these ideas. None of these ideas are a magic bullet, but they would be steps in the right direction.

Immigration Reform: Illegal immigrants are driving up costs with trips the emergency room and other health care access. I’ve written about immigration in the past. If a person is here illegally we should enforce the law. If people want to move here and become citizens we should create a legal process for citizenship. This seems simple to me. No blanket amnesty.

Tort Reform: High insurance costs are forcing small time doctors out of work. A majority of Americans are in favor of tort reform but unfortunately the Democrats will not stand up to the trial lawyer lobby of their party.

Whole Food’s CEO John Mackey had a great op-ed in the Wall Street Journal yesterday that touched on this subject. Mackey lists many more common sense ideas that would make health care more affordable.

• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.
• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.
• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor’s visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?
• Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.
• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren’t covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

These reforms are not difficult and are less complex than anything Congress is debating. The only problem is that the Democratic Party lacks any interest in a solution that doesn’t ultimately end in a universal single payer system. They may not admit it openly, but a huge health care entitlement would be good for their party.

Jim Geraghty wrote an article titled “Eyes on the Real Prize” today for the National Review that speculates about what the Democrats will do on health care reform. Geraghty thinks that the Demcocrats might just pass this monstrostity no matter what the polls say or despite the predictable politlcal fallout in 2010. This might be their last chance for a decade to push this through Congress.

Come September, it’s quite possible we’ll see quite a few Democrats who got an earful and a half at their town meetings coming out and offering a dramatic justification: “I know this is controversial, I know my constituents have serious worries, but this is the right thing to do and I’ll be willing to accept the consequences.”
There may be other members of Congress who will proudly disregard opinion in their districts. Lawmakers who call their constituents “un-American” and “political terrorists” and compare them to the Klan and Timothy McVeigh almost express pride in disregarding the distant mewling of the unwashed masses foolish enough to elect them. Between the two approaches, enough Democrats could find their cover and the bill could very well pass along heavily partisan lines.

For a nation on the brink of bankruptcy it’s difficult to believe that a change in leadership has meant going from bad to worse. What the Democrats are doing isn’t surprising; however, their motivation to commit political suicide in favor of a health care entitlement is shocking.