While senators and congressmen haggle over buzzwords like “public option” and getting the price of health reform under $1 trillion, there is little discussion in the central - policy setting circles about how these options will affect the average American.
Anthony Wright, writing A Moneyball Approach to Health Reform - The Treatment suggests a Consumer Budget Impact score that “would indicate how a family’s premiums would go up or down–and how much their exposure to significant medical debt would decline.”
When the Senate Finance Committee comes out with its bill, I hope the political conversation concentrates less on the CBO and if they met this arbitrary $1 trillion budget target, and more on IOUs and what would be the impact on family budgets, and how many people are helped, both insured, underinsured, and overstretched.
That’s what voters will care about–just like baseball fans know the win-loss record of their team, more than the cost of the team’s operations. Both our elected officials and the media need to do better focusing on the score that matters.
One thing you can deduce from the flow of media coverage on health care reform is that industry interests will see benefits - most of which will not be published outside of a 1,000 - plus page bill that Congress scoffs at actually reading before they vote. (See Politico’s Steny Hoyer does Standup)
While President Obama hasn’t dictated the final product, the Washington Post reports today that he is working to rope in a lot of the special interests - resulting in support recently from PhRMA, hospital groups and Wal-Mart.
“All the constituencies that have been the most vocal critics of any form of health reform in the past are now invested in its success,” Emanuel told the Post.
Except perhaps the GOP.
Tags: Anthony Wright, health care, healthcare, healthcare reform, Steny Hoyer, The Treatment, Washington Post
