You know you're a nerd when your breaks from studying are to write about health policy. But then, I do know I'm a nerd, so no problems on that front. This study break is brought to you by Jon Cohn, who wrote an excellent column on Wal-Mart's attitude towards health care (which is, essentially, that the country should have less of it). They elect folks who cut Medicaid even as their own workers are forced to apply for the system. They stack Congress with pols opposed to universal health care even while they undermine the employer-based system. Odd. As Matt notes, this kinda puts the lie to the current round of claims that business is begging for government-run health care.
I say kinda because Matt's brush is too broad. Yes, Wal-Mart, along with a variety of similar corporations, support Republicans who don't like health care. But they're not the businesses pushing the issue. It's GM, Ford, and the like -- the dinosaurs who were giants in the days when unions were strong, and okay'd a bunch of health plans that left them saddled with insurance costs for scores of retirees -- who're begging for relief. Seemed good at the time, not so much now. So there are really two classes of business on this. The leaner, newer, more darwinian companies who want a new Gilded Age, and the companies whose past worker compacts have left them at a marked competitive disadvantage now that the culture is less labor-friendly and want government to swoop in and save their budgets.
