Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Krugman On Obamacare/Romneycare

Paul Krugman examines the fundamental provisions of Obamacare one by one, then declares that Obamacare is essentially Romneycare (Massachusetts health reform). Krugman concludes:

There are no more conservative alternatives — not unless you give up on the whole idea that everyone should have coverage. There are alternatives to the left — single-payer, VA-style government provision — but Obamacare is already as conservative as a plan to make health insurance more or less universal can be.

Which means, of course, that the GOP has no interest in covering everyone under any plan whatsoever. For their money (so to speak), people who would be unprofitable should just go ahead and die, as long as insurance companies get their big bucks first.

5 comments:

  1. And you and I are among the ones they'll try to knock off first.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kay, I don't know what kinds of reactions you get in public to whatever disabilities you may manifest, but I am always amazed at the extremes I encounter.

    Approaching a non-automatic door in a busy public facility is always an adventure... will the other person hold it for me? slam it behind them in my face? pretend not to see me? Probably 90 percent of people are perfectly nice about it, and a few go WAY out of their way to be helpful (an older lady helped me to unload my grocery ride-cart into my car today).

    But every day is an education for me, a reminder that not all Americans hold the same attitude toward cripples like me. I do understand why people in a hurry rush past the wheelchair/walker/whatever, but I'll never quite understand what makes someone actively rude to me even when they are not pressed for time.

    They should be grateful to me. I worked most of my life, paid my FICA, and am unlikely to live long enough to collect very much of it. If what they want is for me to "go ahead and die" (do click that Austin Lounge Lizards link, btw), I'm their man. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm a survivor of a massive stroke (you can read about it here: http://higtbm.blogspot.com/2008/07/stricken.html) and I am actually in much better shape than I'm supposed to be.

    I do pretty well mostly and look normal but there are things that are difficult and awkward for me that amplify if someone calls attention to my difficulties. As you prolly well know, coping skills require concentration and don't need comments from the peanut gallery.

    Couldn't find a link to the LLs here but I googled it and found some video. Are those your guys?

    ReplyDelete
  4. And oh yeah, I do what I can to help those who aren't as blessed as I have been. And that blog I sent you has more about what happened to me. And it was all because of a meme that I had to spill my guts! Argh! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kay, at one time a couple months ago I read your "how I got to be me" blog, but I'll reread it with a bit more perspective given what you said above.

    I don't know that the Austin Lounge Lizards are "my guys" any more than "every lefty Texan's guys (and at least one gal)"; they're one of the longest-lived groups in Austin, which is a pretty competitive town musically. And their funny songs are always truly hilarious. For an additional example beyond "Go Ahead and Die," Look up "The Drugs I Need" on YouTube; you may recognize the experience.

    Spilling one's guts can be a cathartic experience or it can have terrible consequences; I hope you got the benefit without the subsequent discomfort. I used to dump everything on my blog (I just have one blog, plus an annex for when that blog is down), but I've been a bit more restrained about personal details since our feral gummint started recording every damned thing we write, say, etc.

    ReplyDelete

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