Health Care Reform Appears Dead!

It has been sometime since I was optimistic that our nation would finally climb into the world inhabited by nations who finance health care for everyone, generally cheaper than us and often at better quality.

I hoped that Obama's method of letting Congress deal with the development of the plans would work, it appears that this would a fatal mistake. There are too many forces of special interests who protected private insurers and the general status quo.

My major drives were to see universal health care within a reformed system. Admittedly, it would mean less for many whose health care insurance is great, but I was a supporter of our need to endorse a system that was built on the common good. We needed to have a system that was good for everyone even if it meant that there were aspects that resulted in less for some. Rationing is inevitable. Rather than our current system that determines less care by virtue of whether you have health care insurance or what type you can afford, we would have a system that would tend to limit excesses even for those with great insurance.

What appears to be inevitable at the moment is legislation that will extend health care to more but will essentially leave the system in tack. Private insurance driven by fee-for-service will tend to rule and that will mean that we missed the opportunity to make serious reform.

Some think that Obama should have been more involved in the process. I am not sure whether that would have made a difference. It appears that the conservatives wield too much power and, for better or worse, we are a democracy. As such, we have to live with the results.

Someone Knew the Problems!

William White, the head of the Bank of International Settlements, is a person that I never knew. The organization is one I never knew. And yet, it is a powerful bank with a powerful director. And, he discussed his concerns with its members, the heads of Central Banks, e.g., Greenspan, without ever being able to convince people that the dangers needed to be addressed. If anyone adopted his views, we may have avoided the economic disaster that occurred. It is fascinating to know that the problems we now know so clearly, were so difficult to believe even when articulated by someone with his power and knowledge.

My Note to President Obama

I sent the following message to the White House:

While I remain a strong supporter of President Obama, I admit that there are signs that he may fail and failure will be terrible for everyone. Even if there is some good reason for allowing Congress to work details on health, energy and other critical legislation, it is not working. Even if a stimulus was needed for our nation's economy, it is not enough and surely has not been transferred to states quickly enough. You always said that you would admit mistakes and change courses. I recommend such now. A health care plan without a public option is relatively worthless. There is no way that health care costs can be controlled without government intervention in policy and funding. Trying to get buy-in of a plan that will not control and decrease costs is useless. An energy bill that does not tax people for use of carbon products may make some political sense, but it will not change behavior sufficiently to make a difference in terms of global warming. People need to change their behavior and economics will require such changes if products are priced to compensate for their carbon. Without jobs, consumption will not increase sufficiently to create a demand to sustain our economy. Increased unemployment shows no significant decline and there is data indicating that our unemployment rates may remain high until 2015. While national debt is a problem, we have a choice of either trying to stimulate the economy which will require more stimulus and quicker or, we have to inform the public that we are going to allow the forces that generated the depression to work themselves out over the next decade.