(This is my personal opinion on the subject, others may differ. The Governor's proposal is so expansive and desperate to be liked that there's something for everyone to praise and denounce. - promoted by dday)
OK, I think I've read everypossiblenews report about the Governor's health care proposal, and I'm still confused. Why exactly is this called "universal care"? It doesn't ensure that everybody is covered, it demands it. That's not universal care, that's a universal threat. And while I agree with Ezra Klein that even single-payer health care is a universal mandate in that it uses required taxes to fund health care, applying that mandate without cutting down costs for consumers makes this a fantasy, as Ezra explains. On the flip...
In Shum's diary she referenced a post from Avedon Carol that I thought was a great way to understand the current health-care debate in California, and would provide a valuable lesson for Democrats in the state. I'd like to highlight it.
Many of us have been talking about the need for Democrats to start high before going to the bargaining table. This is not a radical new idea - everyone knows that when you dicker for a good price, you don't start with the "reasonable", "compromise" figure.
But Democrats seem to have lost the idea of haggling. If they want single-payer healthcare, they ask for single-payer healthcare. (Or worse, they do what the Clintons did and try to offer the insurance companies something, which kills the whole idea.) If they want a minimum wage of $7.25, they ask for a minimum wage of $7.25 [...]
I want single-payer to pass, but I think single-payer would sound much more reasonable if there were people out there demanding a fully-socialized healthcare program like Britain's NHS (as Nye Bevan designed it, not the anemic thing successive governments have been turning it into). Go all-out: Demand an NHS, and single-payer will sound nice and capitalist and moderate - as it is.
Avedon is absolutely correct. You don't give up the battle before it is even joined. If politics is the art of compromise, then compromising BEFORE you reach the bargaining table is a guarantee that you won't be able to get anything near wht you really want.
Especially when the opposition is ALREADY bargaining into your position, albeit with fits and starts. On the flip...
