Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Congress / Kotz / Politics / The Economy Is Jim Cooper's Health Care Plan Ahead of Its Time?
Posted by Pete Kotz on Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 10:22 AM
It's essentially a variation of the single-payer system the left has been pushing for years. Instead of employers providing the bulk of health insurance, they would kick that money directly to workers, who would purchase their plans on a new and improved open market. The available coverage would bar pre-existing illness clauses, maintain certain basement levels of coverage, and be transferable upon changing jobs. And while the government would still subsidize coverage for those unable to pay, the Congressional Budget Office believes the idea is revenue-neutral, meaning it won't cost the government more. Bonus round: Some of the most conservative members of Congress are signing on.
All good, right? Not quite. Some believe Cooper's plan is too radical for current politics, that such sweeping change would simply be too frightening for the Beltway crowd to digest. It also seems to have a giant hole in its logic. Once employers divorce themselves from directly providing health care, they're bound to start skimping on their contributions, leaving the entire system to the government, much the same way they killed off pensions into much smaller 401(k) programs.
Then again, any time a Tennessee politician is accused of inventiveness, it's cause of celebration. And this time, it has nothing to do with guns or abortion. He's actually trying to help someone.
Comments (1)
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I do give. Rep. Cooper high markers for thinking outside the box and for being a fiscal hawk. My concern with his plan is that it relies on a theory that has not worked in the real world: competition will keep health care costs downs. Not so for health care because the reality is that when it comes to our health and our lives we will pay, or go into debt to pay, for any treatment or service--and the health insurance and health care industries know it. What's more, the plan Rep. Cooper is touting doesn't help make private health insurance affordable to most Americans because the tax credits being offered do not cover the costs of premiums for most families. I suppose this will be the cost control--Americans will do without life-saving and quality-of-life care because they can't afford it. That's what 47 million uninsured Americans and about 23 million under-insured Americans are doing now.
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