Got an interesting Charles Krauthammer column on "Obamacare Version 1.0," which he says is dead. I'm not sure if I can find the room for it on the editorial page, so I'll share it here.
He says Democrats, if they are politically smart enough, can still salvage victory. Obamacare 2.0 would focus on "promising nothing but pleasure" for now. Insurance companies would be forced to cover pre-existing conditions and prohibited from dropping coverage when people get sick. Government would mandate the purchase of health insurance by all who can afford it and subsidize those who are too poor to pay for it, creating two new revenue streams. The end result would be the liberal dream of universal and guaranteed coverage, but without overt nationalization.
Isn't there a catch? Of course there is. This scheme is the ultimate bait-and-switch. The pleasure comes now, the pain later. Government-subsidized universal and virtually unlimited coverage will vastly compound already out-of-control government spending on health care. The financial and budgetary consequences will be catastrophic.
However, they will not appear immediately. And when they do, the only solution will be rationing. That's when the liberals will give the FCCCER regulatory power and give you end-of-life counseling.
But by then, resistance will be feeble. Why? Because at that point the only remaining option will be to give up the benefits we will have become accustomed to. Once granted, guaranteed universal health care is not relinquished. Look at Canada. Look at Britain. They got hooked; now they ration. So will we.
Until this year, such an outlook would have seemed too cynical even for me.
