"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
m...



Much of the time, the Dems had a fillibuster proof majority in the
Senate. The problems they had governing were ALL related to THEIR
recalcitrant members. Never have been able to figure out why a lack of
discipline within the Dems is somehow the fault of the GOP.

That's a good point, it is true that the Dems don't seem to be able to set
up rubber-stamp Congresses like the Repubs can.

On the other hand, Republican proposals for for health care legislation,
which when adopted by the Dems are instantly rejected and are opposed by the
Republicans--that would seem to be the fault of the GOP. If Romney runs
again in 2012 it will be interesting to see how he doubles-back on this
issue, how mandated insurance was good when he signed-off on it, bad when
Obama did the same.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/pos...hting_for.html

Why Democrats are fighting for a Republican health plan

Here is the ultimate paradox of the Great Health Care Showdown: Congress
will divide along partisan lines to pass a Republican version of health care
reform, and Republicans will vote against it.

Yes, Democrats have rallied behind a bill that Republicans -- or at least
large numbers of them -- should love. It is built on a series of principles
that Republicans espoused for years.

Republicans have said that they do not want to destroy the private insurance
market. This bill not only preserves that market but strengthens it by
bringing in millions of new customers. The plan before Congress does not
call for a government “takeover” of health care. It provides subsidies so
more people can buy private insurance.

Republicans always say they are against “socialized medicine.” Not only is
this bill nothing like a “single-payer” health system along Canadian or
British lines. It doesn’t even include the “public option” that would have
allowed people voluntarily to buy their insurance from the government. The
single-payer idea fell by the wayside long ago, and supporters of the public
option -- sadly, from my point of view -- lost out last December.

They’ll be back, of course. The newly pragmatic Rep. Dennis Kucinich
(D-Ohio) was right to say that this is just the first step in a long
process. We will see if this market-based system works. If it doesn’t,
single-payer plans and public options will look more attractive.

Republican reform advocates have long called for a better insurance market.
Our current system provides individuals with little market power in the
purchase of health insurance. As a result, they typically pay exorbitant
premiums. The new insurance exchanges will pool individuals together and
give them a fighting chance at a fair shake.

Republicans now say they hate the mandate that requires everyone to buy
insurance. But an individual mandate was hailed as a form of “personal
responsibility” by no less a conservative Republican than Mitt Romney. He
was proud of the mandate, and also proud of the insurance exchange idea,
known in Massachusetts as “The Health Connector” (the idea itself came from
the conservative Heritage Foundation). Romney had a right to be proud. As
governor of Massachusetts in 2006, he signed a bill that is the closest
thing there is to a model for what the Democrats are proposing.


Don’t believe me on this? On The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page earlier
this week, Grace-Marie Turner -- criticizing Romney from the right, it
should be said -- noted the startling similarities between the plan he
approved and the one President Obama is fighting for.

“Both have an individual mandate requiring most residents to have health
insurance or pay a penalty,” she wrote. “Most businesses are required to
participate or pay a fine. Both rely on government-designed purchasing
exchanges that also provide a platform to control private health insurance.
Many of the uninsured are covered through Medicaid expansion and others
receive subsidies for highly prescriptive policies. And the apparatus
requires a plethora of new government boards and agencies.”

She added: “While it's true that the liberal Massachusetts Legislature did
turn Mr. Romney's plan to the left, his claims that his plan is ‘entirely
different’ will not stand up to the intense scrutiny of a presidential
campaign, especially a primary challenge.”

What does it tell us that Republicans are now opposing a bill rooted in so
many of their own principles? Why has it fallen to Democrats to push the
thing through?

The obvious lesson is that the balance of opinion in the Republican Party
has swung far to the right of where it used to be. Republicans once believed
in market-based government solutions. Now they are suspicious of government
solutions altogether. That’s true even in an area such as health care where
government, through Medicare and Medicaid, already plays a necessarily large
role.

As for the Democrats, they have been both pragmatic and moderate, despite
all the claims that this plan is “left wing” or “socialist.” It is neither.

You could argue that Democrats have learned from Republicans. Some might say
that Democrats have been less than true to their principles.

But there is a simpler conclusion: Democrats, including President Obama, are
so anxious to get everyone health insurance that they are more than willing
to try a market-based system and hope it works. It’s a shame the Republicans
can no longer take “yes” for an answer.