Monday, February 11, 2008

Why you don’t pick a president by their health plan

Even if I wanted to, I could ill hide the fact that I plan to Barack the vote in the primary, the caucus and the general election. Yet I give full credit to Hillary Clinton for championing the issue of health care in America as best she could for the past decade or so. I will go so far as to say that Senator Clinton is the reason Obama and Edwards needed to make it their issue as well. The reason they were even talking about it, at times.

But here’s why the particulars of candidates’ health plans don’t matter so much when it comes to who we elect our next President. For starters, the candidates admit that they are more similar than divergent when it comes to policy. From the economy to the war to health care, the broad strokes are painted in the same bold blue. They want to curb the mortgage crisis, bring the troops home and make health care more affordable.

Lately though, Senators Obama and Clinton have been wont to point out one difference in particular. Hillary’s plan will “cover everyone”. How does she plan to do that? She will simply make everyone pay for health coverage. That’s like passing a law that everyone must eat three squares and then declaring victory over hunger.

Barack’s plan, much like Hillary’s, aims to make health care more affordable. The logic being that people who aren’t covered probably have some financial hurdles to tackle. That a mandate would necessitate some sort of penalty for non-compliance. (When pressed for answers, Mrs. Clinton had one useful suggestion to enact her plan – wage garnishing.)

So it’s not that Senator Clinton’s plan would be more affordable, or that her numbers add up better than his. It’s just that she would simply make everyone do it and call it “universal”. Very Presidential, indeed.

C’mon. We know that no matter what health plan is proposed, it will have to pass two houses of Congress. And like an embattled filet mignon, it won’t look the same coming out the other end. So let us consider the vision used to propose a plan, the leadership needed to enact it and the spirit to fight for accessible health care. But see the plans for what they are – plans. And don’t forget the other battles our next leader will have to fight.

7 comments:

razor7 said...

so how will Barack bring about this change if he has a Republican House??

esther said...

I think that aligns with my point that either candidate will have hurdles in enacting their plan. Are you thinking we will have a majority Republican House? In such a case Obama is more likely to get a health plan in place because he has drawn more support from across the aisle.

razor7 said...

I think either ends up with a Republican House. I don't think he will have lots of support on any of his plans that involve taking from the rich to pay for things.

Jen Gollman said...

Hey girl what do you think about the flap over your boy's borrowed/shared comments, "Just Words"? I didn't think it was that big of a deal but it's all over the place!

esther said...

Hey Jen - That "plagiarism" stuff has blown over already, huh? I think it made Hillary's camp look a little petty. Even the news coverage showed many commentators saying this is not plagiarism.

esther said...

Razor,

Aren't there many Repubs stepping down from their Congress seats? Don't know, something I heard. How the heck do we come up with a Republican House? You mean in 2010?

When you say "taking" from the rich, I guess you mean repealing the Bush tax cuts.

What President wouldn't meet with opposition there? I guess we need a majority in Congress. Why wouldn't that happen?

razor7 said...

Should get interesting tomorrow - these races are very close.