“Over the last nine years, I have certainly made mistakes of degree, emphasis, and judgment."Steven Pearlstein on H.R. 2’s inaptly (ineptly?) named title, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act:
"What's particularly noteworthy about this fixation with 'job killing' is that it stands in such contrast to the complete lack of concern about policies that kill people rather than jobs."More next Friday.
Creative thoughts - Mr. Laszewski has an interesting take on the individual mandate spotlighted at Kaiser Health News.
For me, the individual mandate is really a non-negotiable; however, Mr. Laszewski's is the first true "practical" compromise I've seen that tactfully addresses a viable substitution to the mandate:
"A compromise could make guarantee issue health insurance entirely voluntary. If it is purchased when the consumer is first eligible -- such as when the exchanges are first available or at the time of a new job -- the consumer would not be subjected to underwriting or preexisting condition rules... But if they didn't purchase coverage when they were first eligible, any preexisting condition would be subject to a two-year waiting period."
Cool tool - Freeware Genius is featuring a free optical character recognition program that converts images to text in multiple languages. Having spent several years as a technical writer, this piqued my interest as a noteworthy find.
Data visualization - Beautifully compiled maps of American dialects such as this pristine example always tend to bring out the nostalgic linguist in me.
"Public and private insurance have distinct strengths and distinct weaknesses. Private insurance is generally more dynamic and flexible than public insurance, but at the same time less stable and more administratively complex and costly. Public insurance is better at spreading risks broadly—given the extreme concentration of medical costs, private plans inevitably have incentives to “cherry-pick” healthier patients—but this advantage carries with it the potential cost of a lesser capacity to adapt rapidly to changing technology or the distinctive personal circumstances of individuals. Thus, a public-private hybrid can provide an important check on both the public and private sectors, ensuring flexibility and stability, market accountability and democratic accountability, inclusive social protection and private innovation—in short, a broadened range of good, meaningful choices."This comes by way of Jacob S. Hacker, Professor of Political Science at U.C. Berkeley (a title he holds among many others). The rest of his paper is excellent; a must read if you are in favor of (or simply curious about) the benefits that a Public Plan will afford.
Faith-based groups Faithful America and Cover All Families have launched a campaign on Christian radio stations advocating for health care reform, the Wall Street Journal's "Washington Wire" reports. The ads, titled "Abundant Life," feature a voice saying, "All Americans should be able to get the care they need for their families, when they need it. God desires abundant life for all people. It's time we step up, ask our politicians to move the debate forward, so we can get the reform we desperately need." The campaign also urges listeners to contact their congressional representatives about health care reform. The ads are running in seven states -- Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri and Nebraska -- which have "representatives and senators who may well determine the fate of health reform," according to CAF (Mundy, "Washington Wire," Wall Street Journal, 5/21).Those of you reform-minded liberals may have some unlikely allies in your fight. Keep this in mind.
