Legal Commentary

So When Can We Address Health Care REFORM?

By Big Tent Democrat

As I have posted below, with some fairly modest changes, I am supporting passage of the Health Insurance Premium Assistance bill. I suspect the unions and the House will be successful in either killing or sufficiently modifying the Excise Tax so that it does no harm to middle class workers (a provision limiting it to policies sold to persons making over 200K a year seems a natural as it contours precisely with President Obama's promises on taxes.) But my second change, sunsetting the mandates in 2019, is intended to get us back to the issue of health care reform. Perhaps, sooner rather than later. The meager demands of Ben Nelson in the end demonstrate to me that the health insurance industry was really fearful of losing a captive market through the mandates. Clearly, the one impetus we can count on for putting and keeping REAL health care reform on the agenda is the mandate. Paul Krugman writes:

We can come back to this. Progressives can push for bigger subsidies; stronger exchanges; a reinstated public option; stronger cost controls. Some of these things can be done through reconciliation. Having this bill in place will make it easier, not harder, to do these things than having passed nothing.

I doubt this is true without the bargaining chip of the mandate. That is why I think it is critical that the mandate provision be sunsetted in 2019. In order to extend the mandate, the discussion about health care REFORM can continue - because that is what the health insurance industry wants - mandates.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 19, 2009 (boomark / email).