Blue Skirt: She May be Red, but She’s Singing the Health Care Blues
Posted by Alice Lieberman on Feb 17th, 2008
Well, it’s Valentine’s Day, and I should be thinking red, but of course, I’m as constitutionally capable of that as Red Skirt is of thinking blue. However, I am certainly capable of talking about health care, and Red has certainly left me some openings in her piece.
| • Read the Red Skirt entry Alice is responding to. |
Red cites the perpetually out-of-touch Ramesh Ponnuru (see here and here), who rhetorically asks the question, “how strong is the public’s demand for universal [health] coverage?” Actually, damn strong, as measured in polls here and here, although clearly Republicans care less about universality and more about cost than do Democrats, who express greater concern about universality.
Not surprisingly, then, the old flip-flopper himself, John McCain, the emerging leader of the Republican party and default inheritor of the job of Bush cheerleader, provides us with a “true conservative” plan for health care reform on his website. OK, Senator! Take it away! Tell us how a true conservative really thinks since, after all, you just became one!
McCain’s website provides some insights into how he thinks about the issue. His primary goal is cost containment. And his program won't cost a lot, because most of his spending comes from moving the deck chairs around on the existing tax exemption on employer-provided health insurance. But he is woefully short on explanations about how much this really helps people in the individual insurance market. He also wants to provide a $5,000 tax credit to poor families so that they can purchase their own insurance. Well, I guess he was right about one thing: he doesn’t know much about economics! Because anyone who has ever bought health insurance knows that, at best, this amount is not going to be nearly enough for the poor of this country.
Red goes on to characterize Barack Obama’s plan as unworkable, but never says why. In fact, she ought to love it. Like McCain’s, it does not have mandates for adults (Obama’s does have mandates for children). And to Blue Skirts like me, that’s its biggest problem. Paul Krugman, who otherwise might be a natural ally of Obama, excoriates the senator’s plan in a frequently-cited
column for reasons that Red Skirt ought to find appealing. Maybe she’s choosing to be casually dismissive because she can’t be critical. Who knows? But the truth is, there is a lot more meat on the bones of his plan (and therefore a lot more to talk about) than there is on McCain’s plan.
Hillary Clinton (and before he got out, John Edwards) has endorsed mandates and universal coverage. I get that Red does not like universal coverage, or Hillary Clinton. But there is a reason why universal coverage is the most reasonable road to take and, in a less ideologically reflexive world, even Red Skirt would sign on: in the end, it’s cheaper to cover everybody than it is to allow people to opt out. And isn’t cost containment uber alles an article of faith among the Reds?
So, to all you Red Skirts out there, you should know that we Blues are looking out for you! We wouldn’t want your hearts broken, either literally or figuratively. That’s why we (and you) should support universal coverage. And if you are one of the many Reds who think that health care reform is the most important issue this year, you better get on the HILLARY BANDWAGON before it’s too late! And, oh yeah, Happy [Belated] Valentine’s Day!
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