Last night’s episode of Frontline entitled “Sick Around America” did a good job of personalizing the plight of the country’s uninsured and underinsured. It also highlights one of the most intractable problems facing policymakers: how do you cover everyone while keeping costs under control? As the program points out, Massachusetts requires insurers to cover everyone in the state, but the premiums are still too expensive for many individuals and families.
Many of us wonks think that any health care reform must include the choice of a comprehensive public plan in order to keep private plans honest. But moderate Democrats seem to view a public plan as little more than a bargaining chip to be traded away in final negotiations, which seems to concede the point a little too readily for my tastes. I’m not expecting us to get everything right the first time around, but universal coverage is going to be a hollow victory if it bankrupts us in a few years.
comparative effectiveness? too wonky to discuss? even effective at all? hmmm…