Obama says “Trust us”

Posted by Marc Hodak on July 22, 2009 under Invisible trade-offs, Politics | Be the First to Comment

Liberal blogger Ezra Klein is dubious about Obama’s pleas to progressives:  that whatever happens in each house of Congress, he will fight in conference to uphold his “bottom lines,” which consist of affirmative answers to these questions:

Does this bill cover all Americans?  Does it drive down costs both in the public sector and the private sector over the long-term.  Does it improve quality? Does it emphasize prevention and wellness?  Does it have a serious package of insurance reforms so people aren’t losing health care over a preexisting condition?  Does it have a serious public option in place?

Never mind that he’s claiming with a straight face that a central planning system, which is what a “serious public option” will inevitably devolve into, is likely to produce a combination of widespread availability, decreasing costs, and improving quality–something that no government-run system has ever produced whether it be shoes or schools.  And after all this, Professor Bainbridge feels Obama has left some things out:

1. Nothing about Americans being able to keep the doctor they have now
2. Nothing about Americans who are satisfied with their health care insurance being able to keep their existing policy
3. Nothing in it about preserving opt-outs so that those who don’t want socialized medicine can keep private plans that fund procedures and drugs the government is unwilling to cover
4. Nothing about how to pay for it without raising taxes to global highs

And then there is that thing that Obama, the progressives, and nearly every one else has left out in their “bottom line,” i.e., the prospect of finding cures for nasty things that don’t happen to have yet been cured.  Innovation continues to be the ignored trade-off.