Some of you have written in asking my thoughts on the universal health care proposals in California. I haven't had time to sit down with the plans yet, but Matt Holt, who has a British accent and thus I trust completely, writes:
The plan is interesting in that it seems to basically contradict the AHIP plan that Halvorson was touting last week. That one called for subsidies for low income workers to buy into private health plans. This one calls for a state sponsored first dollar coverage plan in addition, plus an individual mandate plus a pay or play tax, plus two different pools for the non-poor to buy high deductible plans from (again both state sponsored). At least I think it’s what they’re saying. The major problem with this plan is that it’s so damn complicated I couldn’t figure out which special interest group was going to get the angriest, as it gets ignored by the rest of the public.[...]
Still this is a serious effort. They've even done sums and everything. And we're starting to count these policy documents by weight now, which indicates that it's all getting somewhat serious and is picking up as a political issue.
I'll second that last bit. Universal health care is slowly, inexorably, seeping back into the conversation.
