The Health Care Vote

The Tide of History

Any federal public option would presumably be recognized nationwide, which would be a tremendous advantage in a system where one state's private or public policies might not be recognized in a different state. Without to mobility of Medicare, there would probably be fewer retirees in Florida.

Any viable, low-cost public option will of course destroy all but a few exclusive private insurers with astronomical rates covering things like elective rhinoplasty. But that's fine. That's optimal. The more people in the system the lower the percentage dedicated to administration.

Republicans know people will vote with their feet en masse for the public option. Many people would do so automatically having no other prospects of health coverage now. And they are right to say the government is an unfair competitor in the "health marketplace." But that's fine because "Health Care" is not a commodity like gold or sugar. There is no dollar value for a human life. It's the private insurers who attempt to assign a dollar value when they deny coverage for "pre-existing conditions" and many other made-up reasons.

The number of Americans who desperately need the public option to pass (whether some of those dummies know it or not) is in the range of several scores million.

If I were a senate Republican I would be seriously considering the tide of history and my own legacy in it. To kill the public option is to literally kill any number of Americans who will die without it.

If we don't control costs America will decline. There's two ways to control costs. We could go with the public option, or start turning people away at gunpoint at emergency rooms.

Some things are not about money. It's a moral responsibility to care for the sick. It's very immature and self-defeating for public policy not to recognize that.