"Jane has missed the most obvious implication of the implosion: the
bailout will use up the fiscal margin for any subsidized solution to
health reform. There will simply be no extra dollars in the federal
budget for the uninsured for many years. Obama’s health reform plan,
which relied on new taxes, is dead as a doornail unless he is willing
to push the budget deficit into Argentinian territory, or finance it
from savings inside existing health spending or health related tax
subsidies. Even the existing base of health spending will probably have
to be re-examined. Stay tuned for a more detailed analysis."
Categories: Uncategorized
Jeff,
Healthcare reform should not be dead…It should not require one more dollar to reform the system. There are many actions that can be taken to decrease the uninsured and underinsured. Reform is supposed to decrease costs,(to the providers, not the insurers)..The U.S. system should be able to correct itself internally. (that is if we had moral and ethical people at the helm of health insurance companies and we did away with all the b.s. of third party intermediaries, useless and expensive studies, pilot programs, that fail, and providers that jump on the bandwagon of ‘new programs’ in the fear they will be left out (for a pittance of 1.5%)P4P rewards, Although EMR sounds wonderful (and it can be) we simply cannot afford to implement it. (unless HCFA and the insurers want to give up some of their 15-20% profit margin
Agreed! The thin margin of possibility for systemic reform, is now a virtual impossibility thanks to the Fed, and Treasury’s actions given the death spiral of AIG, Fannie, Freddie, Bear, Lehman, et al.
Fascinating how corporate welfare is rationalized in the “public’s interest” yet, 45-47 million can suffer in silence and we conduct ourselves in a business as usual mindset.
Yes, this economic meltdown is a clear and present danger to the macro economy. But let’s at least admit the zeitgeist bias. We privatize profits, yet socialize losses with relative ease.
Sure common and preferred shareholders will feel the pain, but UBS, Citi, Chase, B of A and other banking giants will be rescued in the interest of “preserving the system”.
You are corrent Jeff, health reform is dead!