Robert Kuttner explains why industry-dictated health reform will be a political wash:
What are our fondest hopes and worst fears for the health legislation now slouching towards the president’s desk? On the plus side, it will cover slightly more than half of America’s uninsured, qualify more of the near-poor for Medicaid, and it may lead to some greater rationalization of health outlays, though exactly how remains to be seen.
On the minus side, the plan leaves most people dependent on employers for health coverage and reinforces the political and economic power of the private insurance industry. It subsidizes insurers with more than half a trillion public dollars over 10 years, mainly using tax credits. And it gets most of that money by requiring savings in Medicare and other federal health programs of about $400 billion and by taxing so-called Cadillac insurance policies — many of which are actually Chevrolets that cost a bundle because of the present system’s inefficiency and tendency to penalize older and sicker policyholders.