CokerConnection

November Legislative Briefing

Not Wasting Any Time on Healthcare

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Democrats in Congress are not wasting any time on presenting a full-scale overhaul plan for the nation's healthcare delivery system, as outlined by Barack Obama’s campaign. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) has delivered an 89-page plan to his colleagues in the Senate urging them to develop extensive healthcare reform legislation, based on the universal healthcare agenda that the Democrats have been touting throughout the election season. His aim is to implement this plan when the new Congress arrives in Washington in January. 

As the article states, Baucus' plan does have one major difference from Obama's plan. He is including mandates for the 46 million uninsured to receive government sponsored insurance, whereas, Obama's plan did not include a provision for mandates, thus making his program voluntary. As a point of distinction, the Baucus plan is actually closer to the plan outlined by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York) throughout the primaries.

I think everyone agrees that finding a solution to decrease the large number of uninsured Americans is a major priority for the Congress and the new administration. However, not everyone agrees that implementing a universal healthcare system is the best solution, from a standpoint of saving money or saving lives.  

Why is universal healthcare not a good idea? Of course, the main reason relates to the decline in the quality of care that is likely to occur. One only has to look at the healthcare system in Canada or many European countries to realize that in terms of quality care for patients socialized medicine is not the best.

Another key reason as to why universal healthcare is not a viable solution to solving the nation’s healthcare crisis relates to the costs involved. I haven't read Sen. Baucus' plan page for page, so perhaps he has created some master plan to cover the costs of such a fundamental change in how the system operates, but I can tell you that up until now, no one has found a reasonable solution that would allow us to cover the costs associated with changing the healthcare plan like this. Greg Mankiw, the Harvard economist, makes some good points on this subject, which he outlined on his blog and in a recent New York Times piece. 

In his recommendations to President-elect Obama, he had this to say about budget constraints and healthcare policy:

"[…] during the campaign, you promised that you would cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans, that you would vastly expand health insurance coverage, and that you would never cut Social Security benefits or raise the retirement age. You will almost surely have to renege on some of these promises. As your economic team will often remind you, even if the laws of arithmetic are ignored during campaigns, they provide a real constraint when making actual policy."

If you want more information about what we can do to improve the healthcare system without compromising the quality of care provided or the access to that care, I would encourage you to review Congressman Tom Price's (R-Georgia) plan. He is a physician and of course a Congressman from Georgia. He understands the crisis our healthcare system faces, and he has positive solutions to addressing these challenges in a manner that will be sustainable over the long run. If you want more extensive information on Rep. Price's healthcare proposals, feel free to contact his office.

For more information on these issues discussed in the briefing, visit our website at www.CokerGroup.com, or contact Coker here or at 678-832-2000.