When clueless on how to cut costs, politicians fall back on certain buzz words. Listen for them. The most common is fraud and waste. No one favors fraud and waste. The low lying fruit has already been picked. The rest is usually insignificant or intractable.
Trump uses buzz words to hide his lack of a plan to replace Obamacare. The first is block grants, which he would give to the states to help those unable to afford medical insurance. That is just kicking the can to the states, without a solution or accountability. The hidden subtext is always that the block grants will be less than the amount currently allocated. This only lowers costs by reducing benefits.
The trickier buzz word is competition. Some proposals actually lower costs. Trump's does not. His plan to eliminate state lines for medical plans lines out. The product is local. The networks of doctors and hospitals do not change. Because the product is the same the costs will not alter significantly. The insurance companies still have to contract with the same hospitals and physicians. The only possible impact would be in towns like Kansas City that straddle two states.
If we are paying attention, we won't swing at Trump's pitch.
Larry, regarding voter fraud, the newscasters always say that there is none, but then they fail to point out the obvious which is that the only systematic voter fraud being conducted these days is by the Republicans in our state houses? Just wondering aloud.
ReplyDeleteVoter suppression is, I agree, all too common. Big push underway to recapture state legislatures.
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