This Isn't The Change I Was Looking For

The health care system in America needs to be fixed. Ask any of the leading candidates for president and they will tell you the same. Their approach to fixing the problem, though, is considerably different, depending on their party affiliation. It almost goes without saying that the Democrats have a better plan. However, what they don't have is a liberal plan.

Each of the three Democratic front-runners (Clinton, Obama, Edwards) have the same plan. They want to issue tax credits to help us pay for our private insurance. They want to offer us the same menu of plans to choose from that Congress has. (That must have fared well with the focus groups, because all of a sudden, they're all saying it.) The problem with this, of course, is that throwing tax dollars at a broken system isn't going to fix it. It's simply going to transfer more money from the middle class into the pockets of the insurance industry.

Sound familiar? It's the same plan that Governor Schwarzenegger has for California, which I ranted about back in December. What we're seeing is the Democratic party shifting further to the right. Is it a coincidence that no matter which of the likely candidates gets the nomination, we're going to have a Democrat who wants to help the insurance industry get paid?

As for the Republicans, there's a little more variety, but it all pretty much boils down to a few standard conservative principles. Reduce regulation, reduce the burden on industry, leave the consumers to fend for themselves.

A few intersting notes: On McCain's site, under the header "John McCain Believes in Personal Responsibility" he says:

Public health initiatives must be undertaken with all our citizens to stem the growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and to deter smoking.

Personal responsibility in the form of the Nanny State?

I'd comment on Huckabee's plan, but he doesn't have any details on his site, only vague platitudes about lower costs, more control, and blah blah blah.

Mitt Romney doesn't get into any specifics, either. He does offer something the other Repubs do not, a gross misrepresentation of the Democratic plans.

Democrats believe that the solution to these problems is a one-size-fits-all, government-run, socialized health care system — a course that threatens medical progress and restricts free markets. They think that government can do a better job of choosing a doctor and making better health care decisions than individual Americans can.

As I point out, none of the Democratic front-runners is offering "socialized" health care. And when has any Democrat ever said that the government should be picking people's doctors or making their health care decisions? Romney is either ignorant of the shift of the Dems toward the center, or he is a big fat liar who is counting on his potential supporters being ignorant.

The irritating part is that none of the likely nominees from either party has any real interest in fixing the system. The Democrats want to give tax credits for insurance premiums over a certain amount (percent of income, for example.) They want to give people a choice of private insurance plans to choose from. What they don't want to do is actually address the real problem, which is that the private insurance industry was designed to benefit one group: the private insurance industry.

And of course, the Republicans only want to help big business at the expense of the middle class and the poor. No real shock there.

Unfortunately, that leaves the majority of Americans on the short end of the stick. In Europe and elsewhere, health care is seen as a basic right. In America, it's seen as a profit center for major campaign contributors and lobbyists. Until that changes, we're stuck every four years voting for the "lesser of two evils," instead of someone who can make a real difference.