Gephardt's bold health care plan [Oliphant alert]

Boston Globe Online ^ | 4/22/2003 | Thomas Oliphant

[xsysmgr]

LONG BEFORE he was a presidential candidate, Dick Gephardt began telegraphing the punch he is throwing this week in speeches. On the premise that a challenge to a sitting president starts with dissatisfaction with the status quo, Gephardt thought it would make sense to specify what big changes might look like as they affect the economy, the health care disaster, taxes, and national priorities. The Missouri Democrat's big idea is about health care, but it is really about the economy. As he put it recently, health care is far more than a mess that leaves more than 40 million people without insurance. It is also an enormous drain on business cash, leading to dropped coverage, ruinously higher premiums and copayments, depressed wages, and slower growth.

[Rodney King]

Unfortunetly, I beleive that this is going to be a powerful political argument. The GOP had dropped the ball in the last two years by not getting the ball rolling on true reform- medical savings accounts.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[vpintheak]

I have a better Idea, how about we reduce taxes, impose tort reform, then everyone can afford insurance. Is that so hard to do? I know it is, the government can't possibly survive without our money right?

[Maximum Leader]

You're absolutely right, if we just play defense on this issue, the Democrats are going to ram through a huge new entitlement program.