Ezra Klein, feeling a little soft, interviews Kent Conrad—he of the co-op feed stores for health care idea.
My take on the interview is that I seriously believe Conrad's entire knowledge of health care comes from his time being lectured on the vagaries of Medicare reimbursement by a local rural hospital lobbyist, his one visit to a co-op seed store where he found the farmers chatting happily, and his reading the cliff notes (prepared by his staff) of TR Reid's good but not too sophisticated book focusing on the Beveridge v Bismarck distinction—which is high school civics lesson stuff.
Yet he gets to meet 61 times with the Gang of six that was really going to get it all right before time ran out, and he gets to make policy!
And you wonder why the Senate should be abolished.
Categories: Matthew Holt
