Ownership Society - They Break It, We Own It (or, the Healthcare Crisis in America)

The LA Times had an interesting article about the GOP fast-tracking healthcare overhaul legislation:

"Emboldened by their success at the polls, the Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress believe they have a new opportunity to move the nation away from the system of employer-provided health insurance that has covered most working Americans for the last half-century... Elements of that approach have been on the conservative agenda for years, but what has suddenly put it on the fast track is GOP confidence that the political balance of power has changed."

Well, again they believe they have a mandate on all issues - even when they weren't ones talked about much on the campaign trail or polled on about voters' concerns. Much like the push for Social Security reform, Republicans will not find this easy for the electorate to swallow. And I think the GOP's belief that they are constructing some kind of permanent majority is a bit premature. After all, I'm sure the Republicans felt much worse after the 1964 election than Democrats did after the 2004 one. And just four years later they elected a Republican president and built their numbers in Congress.

"In its place, they want to erect a system in which workers — instead of looking to employers for health insurance — would take personal responsibility for protecting themselves and their families: They would buy high-deductible 'catastrophic' insurance policies to cover major medical needs, then pay routine costs with money set aside in tax-sheltered health savings accounts."

Now, I don't really want to take apart this specific plan but rather talk about the difference of how Democrats and Republicans see this issue. Republicans see healthcare as a "undue burden" on the backs of business (which with the decline of "welfare captalism" (as mentioned awhile back here), that is that employees are cutting back on health benefits amongst other things, this seems an especially bad idea) , and that like with everything else, even essential needs such as healthcare should be privatized. No you can argue for that from an ideological point of view all you like, I think most disagree with that, but you can do it. However, you can't really argue that free-market healthcare is good policy for solving the healthcare crisis (1 in 6 Americans are uninsured and many in middle-class with health insurance suffer economically for it), at least not any specific problem therein. I posted an article a little while back detailing a study that illustrated this fact by analyzing the virtues of either expanding Medicaid or creating new tax-credits. The former was by far cheaper and covered more of those without insurance. The latter, of course, is more popular though since it is a tax credit for all instead of a social program. However, as the article did, think of it this way. Say you wanted to feed the hungry in a group of people and had limited bread. Would it be best to divide the bread up equally and give it to everyone, or give that bread to exactly to those who are hungry and need it? I'm not sure what the answer to the healthcare crisis is. But I know that the free-market system has had its chance. My Mom has worked in it for 20 years. We now need to try something new. I don't know if that's Canadian-style healthcare or what, but further appealing to business is not the way. No, only when we just decide to finally feed the hungry will the crisis be solved.

UPDATED: Half of U.S. personal bankruptcy caused by medical bills