Health-Care Reform's Public Support Problem

Washington Post by Ezra Klein | Jul. 9, 2009 (Opinion)

"If you can't reform the employer tax exclusion," a well-connected health-care reform advocate told me a few months ago, "you can't find the money to reform the health-care system." Harry Reid is now saying that there will be no reform of the employer tax exclusion. So can we still reform health care?

Probably. By this point in the process, Max Baucus had backed so far down on the exclusion that it was going to raise only $300 billion or $400 ... Full Story »

Posted by Samuel W. Velsor IV

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Subjects: U.S., Politics, Media, Health
Topics: U.S. Congress, U.S. White House, Media and Politics, Health Care
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Posted by: Posted by Samuel W. Velsor IV - Jul 9, 2009 - 8:39 AM PDT
Reviewed by: Samuel W. Velsor IV (review), Derek Hawkins (review), Fabrice Florin (review), Patricia Blochowiak (review)
Content Type: Article
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Derek Hawkins - Jul 9, 2009 - 9:33 AM PDT
Related Comments: Health Care (8)

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Derek Hawkins
3.7
 by Derek Hawkins - Jul. 9, 2009

Klein points out that Americans are ambivalent to Obama's proposed health care reform because they aren't sure that it would change or improve their current health care. What he doesn't quite articulate here is that Obama's main aim is to insure the uninsured, not dramatically improve the situation of people who have adequate insurance.

Klein can be so wonkish he's hard to follow unless you've been reading him regularly. But there are few people covering the health care reform debate as thoroughly as he is.

But health-care reform isn’t simply suffering because the public is overly opposed to some of its revenue raisers. It’s suffering because the public is ... More »

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Samuel W. Velsor IV
4.5
 by Samuel W. Velsor IV - Jul. 9, 2009

This is what is called; Hitting the Nail on the Head!

I totally agree with all that Ezra Klein has said in spades. That said it is to true that Congress and specifically Sen Reid are way to early in the game are bowing to pressure over the Tax of Benefits. This should be left to a floor debate not the committees.

I’m gripped, however, by a more unsettling thought. Reports are that Reid dropped the employer tax exclusion because polling was so bitterly opposed (probably in part ... More »

Samuel posted this story.
See Full Review » (16 answers)
Fabrice Florin
3.6
 by Fabrice Florin - Jul. 9, 2009
See Full Review » (10 answers)
Patricia Blochowiak
2.2
 by Patricia Blochowiak - Jul. 11, 2009

Vague. Doesn't mention conflicting polls. Not backed by references.

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