The Irony of the Healthcare Debate

The present debate on healthcare did not start when President Obama assumed office on January 20, 2009. It's really a year older than that, going back to the Democratic Primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire, when each Democratic Candidate was outdoing the rest in bringing forth healthcare reform ideas. So here we are, nearly two years down the road. I think it is fair to say that the average American is more informed about healthcare than ever before--either through the propaganda of the Obama Administration or the propaganda of its detractors.

And the funny thing is, the more we know about healthcare reform, the more we dislike it. There's some new polling data in, and it confirms that when the debate moved from the abstract to the defined, "reform" lost steam. Back when it was all "let's insure the uninsured" and "let's lower costs for Americans"--everyone was for it. As time went on, and the American public was educated on what the COSTS of these goals were--and their relative importance within impending legislation--they balked. Majorities think that the healthcare legislation under consideration now will raise their costs and negatively impact their care. Perhaps the most telling statistic in this poll is that among the uninsureds--as many people believe "reform" will leave them worse off as believe it will improve their lot. Let's face it--if the folks the bill is SQUARELY AIMED AT aren't on board, why should the rest of us be.

I'd like to think that this debate hasn't been a waste though. I hope that Americans are increasingly uncomfortable with the connection between healthcare and work. I hope that Americans are increasingly uncomfortable with the shackles placed on the insurance market that prohibit competition. I hope Americans are better educated as to the costs associated with the admirable goal of insurance for all. I hope Americans are better educated as to who the uninsureds actually are, and whether they really want to be paying for care for all of them.

Most of all, I hope the Obama Administration gets the message, and decides to act with more humility on the domestic policy stage. Perhaps the ultimate irony in all this is that the tanking economy--the one that got Obama elected (remember--McCain was winning in mid-September when Lehman Bros tanked and the economy went in the crapper)--is now wreaking havoc with the President's central domestic policy goal. He was hired to improve the economy, and Americans are increasingly questioning his focus on that subject--and the extent to which his healthcare goals undermine that hiring agreement.