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HEALTHCARE CONVERGENCE. Over at my other place, beloved commenter Jim from Portland writes:
In my optimum world, Hillary, Edwards and Obama would serve the nation and the party best by spending a weekend together (with some key Congressional and health-care leaders as well) and coming up with one unified plan - in effect saying this is what the Dems will do, not one of the candidates.Not a bad call. So far as the Big Three presidential candidates go, though, that's basically happened. Edwards and Clinton's plans are basically indistinguishable from each other, while Obama's plan is separated by the absence of the individual mandate and a bit more reliance on employers. Even so, it's basic structure is staggeringly similar.This is in stark contrast to 2004 when Edwards wanted to cover the kids, Kerry want a catastrophic coverage with a reinsurance component, Gephardt had a large-scale employer mandate, Lieberman wanted to create new programs for underserved populations, Dean wanted to use tax credits and subsidies to cover adults through current options, and so forth. Not only were those plans radically different from one another, but none of them even neared the comprehensiveness of the plans being offered this cycle.--Ezra Klein
