Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Wonkering alert: Comparing health care reform proposals
I have not studied it in detail, but the AFL-CIO has published what appears to be a useful cheat-sheet for comparing the health care reform proposals of the leading presidential candidates of both parties.
CWCID: Ezra Klein.
7 Comments:
By 
SR, at
Thu Jan 24, 01:02:00 AM:
Whoa TH.
Consider the source here.
Comparing two lefty proposals without comparing
any Republican ideas.
Always remember the iron triangle of healthcare:
Cost
Quality
Access
Pick any two. Nobody delivers all three especially the government.
By SR, at
Thu Jan 24, 01:07:00 AM:
Let me further add:
As a provider in the current "system"
I believe we deliver quality and access (no one is turned away, costs are shifted).
Thus the complaint is that the cost is out of control.
In my opinion, the consumers have chosen this mix, the providers have adjusted to that choice.
Everything else is political posturing. A better business model that delivers quality at lower cost will attract customers, but unless access is restricted, the quality will be modified.
By davod, at
Thu Jan 24, 04:58:00 AM:
If we move to a government sponsored system, costs will escalate (show me a system where this is not so) and the quality or access will go down.
By davod, at
Thu Jan 24, 05:03:00 AM:
PS:
I should say that like most things these days, access is a canard. Not that there are not people who do not have access to quality health care. Just that, as with the catch all prescription legislation, the numbers are minute compared to the cost of implimenting the fix.
This is just an atempt to increase government control over our lives.
By 
, at
Thu Jan 24, 05:07:00 AM:
SR ... it's a 5 page document ... the republican proposals are last two pages. Clearly the AFL CIO, and most big unions try to lead their membership toward the democrats. It's ironic that Dems who decry big business don't see that unions are big business.
I like the iron triangle as a quick tool for assessing these. I'd like to see how democrats intend to pay for dumbing down my healthcare. With family members on the provider side, I know too well how the best and brightest are being turned out of medicine, or away from it to start, because the government and insurers have made it too difficult to make a reasonable return. When my life is on the line, I want the very best in medicine, and the finest trained medical people. That objective is being watered down, and won't get better under big brother's control.
My taxes go up every year, given the redistribution of social security and the rising base figure for taxing us (100+K this year). Meanwhile, my future benefits decline. I can't imagine how we raise the money to insure everyone, especially when we can't seal a border that invites millions to c'mon over for more free stuff.
By TigerHawk, at
Thu Jan 24, 06:39:00 AM:
I do appreciate the source, and did not mean to imply that it did not have an ax to grind. It is not completely obvious, though, which ax is the best for the AFL-CIO to grind. Remember, many of its members enjoy, or at least used to enjoy, health care plans that may be more lavish than any ultimate "national" system. It seems to me that there is some risk that a national plan would set a standard that some big unionized employers could move back toward.
By , at
Thu Jan 24, 10:59:00 AM:
Awesome! Can't wait until 90% of our physicians are from the Middle East, as in England. But will transportation to America's only MRI in DC be covered?
