Tom Daschle, the man originally tapped to lead President Obama's
health care push, is now urging him to drop the idea of offering
a government-run plan.
According to
ABC, the former Democratic Senate Majority leader had this to
say:
"While I feel very strongly that consumers should have the
choice of a national, Medicare-like plan, my colleagues do not.
. . But we were concerned that the ongoing health reform debate
is beginning to show signs of fracture on the public plan
issue, so in order to advance the process of developing
bipartisan legislation and to move it forward, it's time to
find consensus here," Daschle said.
"We've come too far and gained too much momentum for our
efforts to fail over disagreements on one single issue," he
said.
This is significant news not merely as a result of his
relationship to Obama, but because Daschle is somebody who is
recognized for his network on Capitol Hill, his ability to
shepard legislation through Congress and strike compromises. If
he is coming out and saying this publicly, it's a pretty good
indication that Democrats simply do not have the votes to pass
legislation that would include a government plan.
While this is a positive devolopment for those of us who oppose
government health care, I should emphasize that this doesn't mean
that we're in the clear. One of the things that supporters of
free market health care have feared all along was that Democrats
were merely using the government plan as a bargaining tool, so
that when they drop it, they can say, "Ok, we gave up something
we really wanted, now let's strike a deal." They will use this to
label anybody who doesn't go along as an obstructionist. But a
"compromise" that still provides subsidies for individuals to
purchase government-designed health care plans on a
government-run exchange, imposes mandates on individuals and
businesses, and steps up regulation, is not much of a compromise.
It's a major victory for the left.
That's why this language by Bob Dole is troubling:
"I had a lot of trouble with [individual] mandates just as Tom
had trouble with the public plan. ... But if we can't
compromise, how do we expect anyone else, how are we going to
get a bill passed," Dole said. "We weren't going let two or
three issues derail our total effort."
Fortunately, Dole isn't in office anymore. If Obama follows
Daschle's advice and drops the government plan, Republicans
shouldn't simply roll over. That provision would have made it
easier for government to takeover the health care system, but it
is far from the only way.
