Neither of my sisters is a big Internet user, so I’m unsure who is actually
reading this blog. Nonetheless, even if you’re a casual observer, you’ll note
that I don’t file that often.
I am going to change that trajectory, however, by committing to post at least
twice each week. Like any good Washington pundit, I will write even when I have
nothing to say.
One of the benefits of renewing my blogging efforts is that it gives me a
chance to look through my notes for quotes I haven’t used in other stories.
Today, the orphaned notes center on health care. Much has been made of how
last fall’s Democratic takeover of Congress will change the landscape for health
care policy. The demise of the Republican majority has made Capitol Hill safe
for liberal plans to institute a single-payer, government-run health care
system.
Well, not quite. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana and chairman of the Senate
Finance Committee, said to a group of reporters in May, “We are on the path
toward major health care reform in future years.”
But that overhaul will not involve putting government in charge, according to
the influential Baucus. He was careful to delineate between a universal and a
single-payer system. “They’re two entirely different concepts,” he said.
OK, you might say, that’s what a conservative Democrat has to say. What about
those farther to the left on the political spectrum?
Like Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, for instance? Wyden, who has written
legislation that would mandate individual coverage financed in part by
employers, cited a recent Oregon vote against a single-payer system.
“It’s more government than Americans want,” he said in a May press
conference.
And, so far, other than Rep. Dennis Kucinich, no Democratic presidential
candidate has advocated a government-run health care system.
Government-influenced, yes. Requirements on employers to provide or finance
coverage, yes. But there’s no hint yet of a government takeover.
So, Republicans may be down, but their ideas about limiting the government
role in health care aren’t out. It looks as if those ideas woven into the fabric
of the debate—a reality that Michael Moore will eventually have to accept.
The problem, of course, is that Republicans likely will overplay their hand
with breathless warnings about Hillarycare—an ill-defined bogeyman—that make
average Americans struggling to pay premiums and co-pays wonder whether the GOP
cares about their plight.
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