Ezra Klein says "the central problem facing health reformers is a simple one: America's health-care system is a mess. But a lot of people rely on it very heavily. But how do you merge the need for root-and-branch reform with the public's fear of rapid change?"
"The answer, put simply, is that you don't institute rapid change. You don't take what people have. But you give them the option to trade up to something better. As the theory goes, if the current system really is so inefficient, and your alternative really is so much better, then the lure of lower costs and better quality will persuade Americans to switch to the new system of their own accord."
But navigating the politics to get there seems to get harder everyday.
The CBO yesterday said that President Obama's "plan to expand health
coverage to the uninsured is likely to dig the nation deeper into debt
unless policymakers adopt politically painful controls on spending,"
the Washington Post reports.
"The pronouncement from the influential budget office is likely to
complicate the arduous task of enacting comprehensive changes this
year. Democratic lawmakers, struggling to reach consensus, will lose
support unless they produce a package that has the potential to lower
the nation's spiraling debt. But hospitals and drugmakers already are
balking at proposals that would cut their federal payments."
Politico notes Democratic members of the Finance Committee "huddled Tuesday afternoon to find ways to bring down the price-tag."
Meanwhile, Centrist House lawmakers are working together privately on health care reform, according to The Hill. "The
talks have been so secretive and politically sensitive that some
members interviewed by The Hill refused to name other legislators
involved in the bipartisan effort."
CQ Politics reports Democrats have also been reaching out to centrists to combat GOP charges "that they are engineering a government takeover of health care."
