Even so one might be critical of it I think Obamas central accomplishment will be Obamacare. If this will be finally rolled out all other agenda points are going to become just smallprint in his legacy.
The US health care system can use
improvements, but the improvements
will not be easy to implement in practice,
and there is a risk of "doing harm".
If ObamaCare is a good design for
the US health care system or can
be morphed into such a design, then
Obama, Pelosi, Reid, the Senator
Kennedy staffers who wrote an early
version, etc. will deserve credit.
My
guess (from reading some of
an earlier bill)
is that as passed it was a
steaming pile of sewage, to mess up
the US health care system and kill people
and waste money,
but eventually
it may get turned into something good
as implemented in the Executive Branch.
I do fear the influence of
Dr. Karen Davis and her academic,
economic, health care systems research
nonsense -- I've been too close to such
nonsense.
There are major suggestions, e.g.,
from Barney Frank, that ObamaCare is
just a step to 'single payer' and,
with the power of the Commissioner,
really just nationalization of the
US health care industry, a huge
fraction of the US economy. I'm
very afraid of the consequences
in health care quality, cost,
and abuses of government power.
I know; I know; the US health care
system is a very long way from free
enterprise now. NIH pays for a
huge fraction of the medical research.
Likely, as elsewhere in Federal Government
research grants, the research supports
the 'research-teaching' hospitals that
do so much for patients, and poor patients,
training physicians, and doing medical
research. The FDA is right on top of
each new product. The CDC plays a
major role in US health care. The Hill
Burton hospitals admit anyone regardless
of ability to pay. Many hospitals
are funded by city taxes. Etc.
Improvement: Needed? Yes. Possible?
Maybe. Easy? No. A mess? Easy!
Yes, Obama has supported ObamaCare, but
actually he showed that he knows next
to nothing about the issue, e.g.,
during the summer of the big debate
made some uninformed
town hall statements and
got
slapped down hard by the US College
of Surgeons and then mostly just
shut up about the details.
I suspect that ObamaCare will be
put on a back burner, maybe
become just a subsidized insurance
plan, and otherwise junked, a little
after Obama leaves office.
If ObamaCare is a good design for the US health care system or can be morphed into such a design, then Obama, Pelosi, Reid, the Senator Kennedy staffers who wrote an early version, etc. will deserve credit.
My guess (from reading some of an earlier bill) is that as passed it was a steaming pile of sewage, to mess up the US health care system and kill people and waste money, but eventually it may get turned into something good as implemented in the Executive Branch.
I do fear the influence of Dr. Karen Davis and her academic, economic, health care systems research nonsense -- I've been too close to such nonsense.
There are major suggestions, e.g., from Barney Frank, that ObamaCare is just a step to 'single payer' and, with the power of the Commissioner, really just nationalization of the US health care industry, a huge fraction of the US economy. I'm very afraid of the consequences in health care quality, cost, and abuses of government power.
I know; I know; the US health care system is a very long way from free enterprise now. NIH pays for a huge fraction of the medical research. Likely, as elsewhere in Federal Government research grants, the research supports the 'research-teaching' hospitals that do so much for patients, and poor patients, training physicians, and doing medical research. The FDA is right on top of each new product. The CDC plays a major role in US health care. The Hill Burton hospitals admit anyone regardless of ability to pay. Many hospitals are funded by city taxes. Etc.
Improvement: Needed? Yes. Possible? Maybe. Easy? No. A mess? Easy!
Yes, Obama has supported ObamaCare, but actually he showed that he knows next to nothing about the issue, e.g., during the summer of the big debate made some uninformed town hall statements and got slapped down hard by the US College of Surgeons and then mostly just shut up about the details.
I suspect that ObamaCare will be put on a back burner, maybe become just a subsidized insurance plan, and otherwise junked, a little after Obama leaves office.