Walter Reed's Greater Significance
Sometimes a story breaks that on its surface appears quite simple, but upon further review it would appear to have much deeper import. Such a story is the apparent scandal of subpar care and conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center. Quite rightly, many are pointing to this as what government run healthcare looks like and what we would all be in store for under an increasingly government controlled healthcare system. All this comes as the 2008 presidential candidates are behind the scense putting pencil to paper and devising their policy planks. Right now it is just showtime, but soon these individuals will have to present actual governing philosophies and policy prescriptions to the nation.
As all 10 of my readers know, I blog alot about healthcare policy and you don't have to be a genius to see that healthcare will be one of the biggest issues in the 2008 presidential campaign. On the Democrat side there is no policy menu, all candidates are clearly advocates of increasing the government role in heathcare provision. It is almost safe to say that if any of these candidates were freed from the constraints of our government's system of checks and balances, they would pursue 100% nationalized heathcare. On the Republican side, the policy menu at this point is...well, not apparent. So observers are forced to speculate. What would Rudy's healthcare policy look like? Who knows? Black Box City. McCain? Enigma as well. McCain's ties to Phil Gramm and economist Kevin Hassett may lead one to believe that his healthcare policy would be non-interventionist to free-market based. Further adding to the confusion is that McCain is both a spending hawk yet a behavior nanny. He wants to tell you what to do, but he doesn't like spending government money to do it. The only Republican candidate where speculation may yield some clue is Mitt Romney, although even here there is some paradoxical information to sort through based on his policy legacy in Massachusetts and his recent statements and actions. As previously noted, Romney has hired two economists who have advocated a free-market, reformist healthcare policy. Furthermore, he has directly walked back from his RomneyCare legislation in Massachusetts. It looks like the retreating continues apace.
If heathcare policy is still a tabula rasa for the major candidates' official policy planks, the Walter Reed story couldn't be breaking at a better time. Let's hope that the story influences the debate and the direction the candidates take in the campaign.
CAVEAT that in a better world I would not have to include: "No, I am not happy that our injured servicemen and woman are receiving inadequate care. I think the situation is to our shame. It's is just that I am trying to look beyond the given circumstances to the policy implications."
As all 10 of my readers know, I blog alot about healthcare policy and you don't have to be a genius to see that healthcare will be one of the biggest issues in the 2008 presidential campaign. On the Democrat side there is no policy menu, all candidates are clearly advocates of increasing the government role in heathcare provision. It is almost safe to say that if any of these candidates were freed from the constraints of our government's system of checks and balances, they would pursue 100% nationalized heathcare. On the Republican side, the policy menu at this point is...well, not apparent. So observers are forced to speculate. What would Rudy's healthcare policy look like? Who knows? Black Box City. McCain? Enigma as well. McCain's ties to Phil Gramm and economist Kevin Hassett may lead one to believe that his healthcare policy would be non-interventionist to free-market based. Further adding to the confusion is that McCain is both a spending hawk yet a behavior nanny. He wants to tell you what to do, but he doesn't like spending government money to do it. The only Republican candidate where speculation may yield some clue is Mitt Romney, although even here there is some paradoxical information to sort through based on his policy legacy in Massachusetts and his recent statements and actions. As previously noted, Romney has hired two economists who have advocated a free-market, reformist healthcare policy. Furthermore, he has directly walked back from his RomneyCare legislation in Massachusetts. It looks like the retreating continues apace.
If heathcare policy is still a tabula rasa for the major candidates' official policy planks, the Walter Reed story couldn't be breaking at a better time. Let's hope that the story influences the debate and the direction the candidates take in the campaign.
CAVEAT that in a better world I would not have to include: "No, I am not happy that our injured servicemen and woman are receiving inadequate care. I think the situation is to our shame. It's is just that I am trying to look beyond the given circumstances to the policy implications."
posted by Donny Baseball at 10:10 AM
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