I’ve never bought many of the arguments against healthcare reform which rely on an irrational fear of the Big Bad Government, since the feds already “run” healthcare in many ways.
Nonetheless, over the last few months we’ve all heard about “death panels” and “rationed care” (it is already rationed in America — by wealth) and a “Washington takeover” and an exploding deficit. The message is clear from conservatives: Don’t jam Uncle Sam into the “Doctor-Patient relationship.”
So why no real outrage, until now, from the Right over an individual health insurance mandate?
It’s a key part of Senator Max Baucus’ new plan but it’s an old idea with some support from the GOP’s establishment (Exhibit A: Massachusetts’ “RomneyCare”;. Exhibit B: Bill Frist who says its “about the only way”). Baucus has been openly pushing the idea since at least last November, when he was charged with crafting an initial plan for the then-President-elect. For the record, on the campaign trail, it was Hillary Clinton, not Obama, who supported the individual mandate.
It wasn’t a popular idea in November and it is causing an outrage now. And for good reason: the federal government is going to force you to send your money to a private enterprise (or a new co-op sometime in the future). There’s also that prickly problem that the individual mandate is probably not even Constitutional.
But for now, score one huge victory for the health insurance industry.
