If we use reconciliation to pass health care reform, we don't need Republican support, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be making the case for health care reform to Republicans. On Sunday, my former boss, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), did just that:
Cantwell's key points: (1) Health care costs must be brought under control or they will overrun the federal budget; (2) The public option is a critical tool for keeping health care costs down; (3) The public option will work because it (a) inserts more competition into the system and (b) delivers health care for the cost of health care.
The fact that so many DC Republicans don't appear to accept these arguments suggests that their goal is to to see health care costs skyrocket, eventually creating a budget crisis that they can use to dismantle Medicare.
Remember, the last thing most hard-core conservatives want to do is run government effectively. That would undermine everything they stand for.
(Transcript below the fold.)
CANTWELL: Well, I would say to my Republican colleagues that when you think about how you control costs and you think about what a public option can do in controlling costs, it's a very key component to it.
Right now, there's insurance across the country where in a couple of states you only have one or two insurance providers, or they might have as much as 50 percent of the market. So if you want to get costs down and reform the system, then deliver health care at what it takes to deliver that health care cost. And both Senator Hatch and I come from states that are very efficient health care states. We provide good health care delivery with good outcomes at very low costs, and that's what I'd like to see the rest of the country move to.
KING: Is there any chance, despite the passing of your friend, is there any chance that a bill with a public option is going to pass the United States Senate?
KING: Joe Lieberman, who's a -- you know, caucuses with the Democrats, was here last week and he said that's not the way he would prefer it, but he believes, given the political climate, given the deficit numbers, that everyone should call a time-out and do this incrementally, pass a bill first that deals with the biggest problems in the system, and prove that -- the Democratic Party should prove we are bending the health care cost curve; now you can trust us when we come back to do the other things like universal coverage and a public option.
Is that the way to go, maybe, in this political environment?
CANTWELL: Well, you're not going to get an argument about bending the cost curve from me, because my state almost subsidizes the rest of the health care system because we're so efficient and the rest of the country delivers more inefficient care.
But the bottom line is that health care costs, which, right now, are about one-third of our federal budget, are going to double if we do nothing.
So doing nothing and thinking that we're going to get out of this expense is not really an option. So coming to the table and saying, how can we deliver lower-cost health care is critical to the equation. And so I think getting true competition into the system and giving consumers choice is what the Democrats and Republicans should be joining ranks on.
KING: Has the president failed the leadership test? Or, at least, does he need to lead better now?
CANTWELL: No, I think the president timed it perfectly. And coming in, in a new administration, he wanted to show that he was going to work with Congress. And he said this is a priority.
And the president, I think, has basically held the discussion for members to come together to discuss what they'd like to see in legislation. And I know that he's been on the phone a lot. And I'm sure, when we return in session, he's going to play a very key role in all of this discussion.