I was lamenting the lack of imagination in the debate on health care reform (aka this rant) with a friend and he said something profound:
Then they'd have to change the whole premise of reform, away from the uninsured (oh, to help the poor...) and toward the notions of portability and choice they used to give lip service to. Old problems get old solutions.
Not that there is anything wrong with helping the poor, but it seems like in all this talk of reform, people stuck in the middle are getting left behind by policy-makers again.
Yesterday the President spoke about the third phase of the recovery package. He noted that Congress had helped people (the poor) by increasing unemployment benefits and aid to make COBRA plans more affordable.
He also mentioned the success of Cash for Clunkers and home-buying incentives, programs targeting people with disposable income.
And progressives including myself are rightly excited about programs for clean energy retrofitting homes - a program yet again targeted to people who have disposable income.
But what about the vast majority of Americans who have jobs and are just making it? People who are unable to put anything aside for new cars and solar panels because their home values have plummeted and their retirement savings have disappeared? Where is the recovery they have been hoping and paying for?
Neither health care reform nor the recovery program is giving folks stuck in the middle the change they voted for.
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