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Health Care Policy - Do it first, don't write a bill, and let someone else take the credit.
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Apr 03, 2008 02:17pm |
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| Category | Strategy |
| News Date | Thursday, April 3, 2008 12:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | On health care, the vital question for the next president isn't merely what to do but how to do it. Reform requires much more than a willing executive, as anyone who worked in the Clinton White House between the years of 1992 and 1994 can tell you. The problem is not just policy—Washington is stuffed with wonks and idea entrepreneurs eager to explain how to fix the health care system—it's politics. Without 60 votes in the Senate, you don't have a policy. You have a position. And nobody is going to get good, affordable medical care from a position paper. Sadly, there's a long history of executives coming in with a clear position paper explaining what they want to do to fix health care but no political strategy for how to achieve it. The next president need not repeat that mistake. He or she needs, first, a clear political approach—based, in part, around a solid understanding of the mistakes made by the Clintons in 1994—that's backed up by a solid set of policy principles.
Health reform is meaningless if it isn't actually universal, if it doesn't make the system more seamless and integrated, and if it doesn't reform the insurance industry so it can begin competing on price and quality rather than risk-shifting and denials of coverage. Optimally, you'll also break the link between employers and health insurance and create a public plan that can compete with private plans, so consumers can choose between health insurance that seeks profit and health insurance that seeks health. So those should be your principles: universality, integration, insurance industry reform, a transition away from employer-based insurance, and public-private competition. You can advocate for those things without getting too hung up on the details. |
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