Who’s Laughing?

Charles Krauthammer on that silly health care reform law passed last year:

Suppose someone - say, the president of the United States - proposed the following: We are drowning in debt. More than $14 trillion right now. I’ve got a great idea for deficit reduction. It will yield a savings of $230 billion over the next 10 years: We increase spending by $540 billion while we increase taxes by $770 billion.

He’d be laughed out of town.

I mean, I guess it’s an interesting hypothetical. Except that it’s not a hypothetical. It happened, and I don’t remember anyone being laughed out of town. I do remember a lot of yelling, though.

But here’s another hypothetical. Suppose someone - say, the president of the United States - proposed the following. We are drowning in debt. More than $14 trillion right now. We also have nearly 50 million people without health insurance. We are the only advanced democracy that allows a portion of our citizenry to go uncovered. We also spend 16% of our GDP on healthcare. We’re alone in the advanced world on that one too.

I’ve got an idea. How about we come up with a bill that covers the vast majority of those 50 million, takes the first real step toward controlling costs, ends inhumane insurance industry practices, and reduces the deficit. 

Pretty funny, huh?