Health Care, Etc.

This morning I ramble a bit…enjoy.

ED Kain at The League of Ordinary Gentlemen had a pretty good post yesterday where he explains his reasons for supporting the Health Care Bill that passed this morning. While I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, it’s worth reading as a rationale explanation of a very emotional issue.

I remain a conservative who supports the broader goal of making sure every American who wants health insurance can get it at an affordable rate. To that end I am most convinced that the best step we can take towards that end is to detach healthcare from employment. This will have the effect of making healthcare immediately portable so the worker moving from one job to another (voluntarily or not) need not add, ‘losing health insurance ‘ to their list of worries. As part of this I fully support govt subsidies for those who find themselves temporarily unable to pay their premiums, though obviously some common sense rules need to be attached. Furthermore, this would serve to greatly reduce the worries of pre-existing medical conditions. Lastly, it accomplishes the more conservative goal of connecting consumers more directly to the costs of their medical decisions.

From a political perspective I think that Democrats are going to be hurt bad in areas already inclined to vote conservative that may have supported then-candidate Obama last November. I think the reaction of these voters is going to be based more on the process of passing this bill than the actual bill itself. Will this be enough to put the GOP back in the majority? Probably not. What it will do is come closer to leveling the playing field. If we end up with a senate that is 52-48 or something close to that, I think the President and the majority are going to have to choose their next battles very, very carefully if they don’t want to go through two years of complete inaction.

What we can also take from this is that I think the other pet issue of global warming is completely off the table for the Left. 2010 has to be the year they focus on jobs or they are going to be slaughtered at the polls. Climate change will be the proce of that effort. I look forward to seeing the State of the Union address in January and learning what the majority’s plans are. In the meantime, 2010 is going to be interesting politically in a number of ways, not the least of which will be curiosity over further challenges to Republican candidates by more conservative voices. The spring primaries will set the tone for the fall and should be a blast to watch.