Barack Obama often discusses how he will implement his Health Care plan. He will setup a big table and invite representatives of all the parties with interests at stake, including—much to the dismay of Paul Krugman—representatives of the insurance and drug companies, whom, as he says, will get a seat at the table but won’t get to buy every chair. This will be broadcast on CSPAN and he will set the record straight, when, for instance, the drug companies lie about their research and development costs. He will oversee this whole process sitting in the biggest chair. Obama will make his case to the American people and build the political capital to push his health care plan through Congress.
When I hear him describe his implementation plan, I think of how, as a State Senator, Barack Obama closed a debate with his colleagues in the state legislature about the Universal Health Care Act, a bill in that created a task force to develop a Universal Health Care plan for Illinois (after the jump):
“I understand that, and I’m -- you know, as Harold
Washington said, “Politics ain’t bean bag.” And -- and -- and
part of our task, as partisans across the aisle, is to try to
get an edge. But this is a crisis that’s hitting people all
across the State. There are a number of elements to the crisis.
Doctors leaving is an element of the crisis, and high liability
insurance rates. That’s part of the crisis. Part of the crisis
has to do with small businesses unable to provide health care
for their employees. Part of the crisis is reflected in terms
of negotiations between unions and employers about the levels of
their health benefits. Part of the crisis is millions of people
who have no insurance whatsoever and that the market has utterly
failed - millions, many of whom work every single day. The
majority of people who do not have health insurance are not
welfare recipients who are covered by Medicaid. They’re folks
who work every single day, doing their best to make ends meet
and try to raise a family, and the single biggest cause of
bankruptcy is when they get sick. Now, we can choose to do
nothing. That is an option. We can say that, you know, we’re
just going to muddle through, primarily because everybody in
this Chamber has health insurance. I don’t think that’s an
option. I don’t think muddling through and pretending as if the
problem doesn’t exist or characterizing attempts to deal with
the problem, in broad strokes, as socialized medicine is going
to address the real needs of these families. So, what I’ve done
is I’ve put together a bill that suggests, let’s all sit down
and actually try to figure out how to solve a problem. And it
doesn’t predetermine how we solve it, but it does say that we,
in this Chamber, are expressing a sense of urgency about the
problem. If all of you have read the bill, there’s no reason
why anybody in this Chamber, on either side of the aisle, should
be willing to vote against this bill. I would ask for an
affirmative roll call.”
http://www.ilga.gov/...
Don't underestimate an Obama speech. He is capable of fighting the drug and insurance industry just fine and will be much more productive with them at the table, as Jonathan Alter explains:
Obama's idea is a better one: Get every special interest out in the open on television, where the new president can cross-examine them and expose their phony rationalizations for charging $100 a pill or denying coverage to sick people (and Edwards, the former trial attorney, would be especially good at this). Then, having triumphed over the drug and insurance companies in the court of public opinion, the legislative victories will follow. It is, indeed, a fantasy to think these interests will roll over entirely, but they will get a much worse deal.
The Edwards alternative-to simply overrun them-is unrealistic. Even a 1932-style mandate at the ballot box (highly unlikely) wouldn't make them capitulate. Look what happened when New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, elected in 2006 with a huge mandate, tried to "steamroll" a bunch of hacks in Albany. He got his head handed to him.
To call Obama "anti-change," as Paul Krugman does, is anti-common sense. Leadership requires a mixture of confrontation and compromise, with room for the losers to save face. "They have to feel the heat to see the light," LBJ liked to say. That heat is best applied up close. In public. Across the big table.
http://www.newsweek.com/...
A battle between Obama, the hopeful uniter, and the slimy representatives of the drug and insurance industry is the best chance we have. Although the Health Care Justice Act wasn’t nearly as controversial as his health care plan, I can imagine President Obama in his big chair, rousing the interest reps, the American people, and Congress to action, with some of the same words, I repeat:
“Now, we can choose to do nothing. That is an option. We can say that, you know, we’re just going to muddle through, primarily because everybody in this Chamber has health insurance. I don’t think that’s an
option. I don’t think muddling through and pretending as if the
problem doesn’t exist or characterizing attempts to deal with
the problem, in broad strokes, as socialized medicine is going
to address the real needs of these families.”
No other candidate has a better shot of passing a health care plan then Obama, after being elected on a message of hope and bipartisanship, making that argument.