There is no chance McCain-style health reform will happen.
None.
The hammer blows of crushing budget deficits and the complete failure of a deregulated financial system have ended the free-market, individual insurance movement’s chance of becoming reality. The death of the McCain model was inevitable, but the economic and political realities have saved us from the burden of tearing it apart through public discussion.
As hard as it is to believe, the plan, which would have covered fewer Americans, would have cost much more than rival plans that actually insured more of us. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the plan would cost $3.6 trillion over ten years (a mere $205 billion in 2009). (for the details click here) Cost-prohibitive to start, the plan is now so obviously unaffordable that McCain himself couldn’t rationalize its cost.
The McCain health reform plan’s other fatal flaw was its reliance on a deregulated individual insurance market. As Daniel Libit noted on Politico.com today, “In a 2003 interview with CNN, John McCain avowed, “I am a deregulator. I believe in deregulation.” Herein lay the fundamental problem with McCain’s proposal – its reliance on the free market to operate counter to its interests. Somehow the Senator believed that the ‘free market’ would figure out a way to cover people with heart disease, asthma, cancer, hypertension, and skin cancer (that would be McCain) at a price they could actually afford to pay.
Expect to see a lot less trumpeting of the wonders of the free market; even the folks at Cato have been quiet these days; perhaps they are stocking up on food and water as they prepare to hunker down and try to survive their own version of nuclear winter.
At least we didn’t have to describe in detail how McCain’s plan was awfully similar to Bush’s last feeble attempt at health reform, one that a GOP Congress couldn’t bring itself to consider.
If there is a silver lining to the credit market disaster, one of its threads is the demise of McCain’s ill-conceived and deeply flawed attempt at health policy.
Oct
1
Great point, but let’s be fair. The same correlation exists for Sen Obama’s plans at health care reform. Too costly for consideration. It is an arguable point that de-regulation was responsible for the credit crisis. Smart people have made the point that the credit crisis might be somewhat tied to the overzealous desire on the part of some to get everyone to be a homeowner. Could it be that the same desire to get everyone insured might have the same disasterous effects?
McCain’s plan focuses on Tax cuts to offset the expense of Health Insurance for individuals/families. Cutting taxes is not an expense, its our money to begin with. Maybe we could all afford insurance if we were not taxed so much.
so maybe when Governor Palin linked the financial crisis to healthcare reform (in her interview with Katie Couric), that’s what she meant? (LOL)