“From gratefully accepting a basic level of assistance back in the early decades of Social Security, America’s elderly have come to expect everything their durable little hearts desire.” Steve Chapman of Slate examines the growing problem of the “greedy grandparents”. As I said after passage of the GOP Medicare bill, it’s ridiculous that we’re even considering a prescription drug benefit for the nation’s wealthiest generation, when so many Americans don’t even have basic health insurance yet. And, as Chapman notes, with the retirement of the Boomers, things are going to get worse before they get better.
Category: Health Care
Botched Prescription?
In a boon for President Bush’s reelection chances, the GOP succeed in remaking Medicare. (At least the Dems can content themselves with defeating the energy bill.) To be honest, I haven’t been following this bill as closely as I should…I always get a bit annoyed when both parties prostrate themselves before the AARP, far and away the richest (and most likely to vote) portion of the electorate. In fact, the US spends 12 times more on its oldest, wealthiest citizens than it does on its children, even though kids are three times more likely to live below the poverty line. Hence, budget and deficit-busting prescription drug giveaways in the midst of child poverty…great investment.)
All that being said, Medicare is one of the foundations of the American social safety net, just as AFDC was until 1996, and as such this act is a biggie. Mickey Kaus of Slate seems to think the bill is actually good for Dems, while Urban Institute experts believe the back door to privatization is in fact only “window dressing.” But still, most Senators I trust came down against it (including John McCain, who railed against the giveaways to drug-makers in the bill.) And, while I still find it absurd that we’re giving prescription drug benefits to a select portion of the electorate before finding a way to insure every citizen, even paying lip service to the idea of privatizing Medicare does not seem a step in the right direction towards universal health care.
Finally, if this bill is so innocuous, why are the GOP so gung-ho for it? I hope it’s because they believe they wrested the Medicare issue away from the Democrats rather than due to any real movement towards privatization in the bill. Still, I fret. I mean, would you trust a prescription filled out by a cat-slaughterer?
Race enters the Race.
Up to now, he seemed content with making a few zingers at the Dem debates. But now, Reverend Sharpton is fighting mad, calling frontrunner Howard Dean “anti-black” in a recent statement. (The Deanies have issued a reply.) Well, I’m perturbed about Dean’s stance on gun control and the death penalty as well (although most of the candidates are pro-death penalty this time around.) But it seems pretty clear in this case that Sharpton is gunning more at the credibility of Jesse Jackson, Jr. (soon to endorse Dean – his father is keeping mum for now) in the black community. Besides, class-based or no, Dean is more of a friend to affirmative action than Gore was back in the day. And speaking of Gore, Dick Gephardt tries once again to pin a Gore-like Mediscare gambit on Dean. Meanwhile, John Edwards, for his part, continues to pursue the Southern strategy.
Internecine Warfare.
As Dean scores another Internet coup and looks even more competitive in New Hampshire, the DLC tries to scare the left into submission with polls suggesting a mass defection of white males (veterans notwithstanding, I presume.) Perhaps it should be noted that Mark Penn is currently working for the Lieberman campaign. In related news, Jonathans Chait and Cohn debate Dean’s effect on the race in TNR. And, finally, John Edwards announces his health care plan in New Hampshire in Clintonesque fashion. (Veteran link via Follow Me Here.)
Pac-Man, Lay off the Dots.
An Albany congressman proposes a “fat tax” on junk food, video games, and TV commercials to combat NY’s growing obesity rate. Thinking outside the box, I suppose, but where would this end? There are very few items in American life these days that don’t contribute to obesity, so it seems a bit harsh to pin the blame on Grand Theft Auto.
Round 1.
Well, after watching a rebroadcast of Saturday’s first Democratic debate on C-Span yesterday…
The Top Tier: I’d have to say it’s still a three-man race for my vote right now among Kerry, Dean, and Edwards. I personally thought Edwards came off the best, although he benefited greatly from being the first Dem to step “above” the Kerry-Dean fracas. As per the rap on him, Kerry seemed somewhat bored and remote, while Dean – who usually says the right things on paper – appeared pugnacious and self-satisfied. To my dismay, Dean seemed even less personable on the telly than Tsongas did back in the day. So, of the three, I thought Edwards seemed like he had the best chance of not being pigeonholed as a Standard-Issue Out-Of-It Liberal in a debate with Dubya, and he seemed much more comfortable using populist rhetoric than Gore ever did. To my mind, Edwards wins Round 1, although obviously we have quite a few more rounds to go.
The Rest: If I had to pick a fourth choice, it’d probably be Moseley-Braun, who got in the best line of the evening with her Florida recount gag. (“People said that the black vote would decide the election of 2000, and it did…Clarence Thomas’s.“) Gephardt seemed a bit weary of primary shenanigans, Lieberman (who inexplicably is getting the best post–debate press) is in the wrong primary, and Bob “Live in Fear” Graham, Al Sharpton, and Dennis Kucinich were too busy playing Orrin Hatch, Alan Keyes, and Gary Bauer respectively. Didn’t much care for Stephanopoulos as self-proclaimed Kingmaker either (although I guess ABC had to use someone in their stable, and he was the most likely candidate), and I found his “I speak for the electorate about your foibles” routine in Pt. III to be wildly unproductive, if not downright insulting. While his characterizations of the candidates’ flaws might have occasionally been on the money (although occasionally they weren’t…who says Lieberman is too nice to be the Democratic candidate? Too theocratic, perhaps – too Republican, for sure – but too nice? That softball was a gift.), more time spent on issues and less on inside baseball would surely have been in order for the first debate.
The Battle of Concord.
Sensing a misstep on the military question, John Kerry launches into Howard Dean, his most potent rival in the New Hampshire primary. For their part, the Dean camp counters by accusing Kerry of Gore-like evasiveness. Meanwhile, on another front, Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect suggests Dean is using the Gore playbook in his attacks on Gephardt’s health plan. I still run hot and cold on John Kerry, but I must say, hiring Gore flunky Chris Lehane as his campaign spokesman clearly goes in the minus column…he may be good at his job, but Lehane still exudes Gore’s insincerity. At any rate, with less a week until the first debate, it’s definitely on.
Think Different.
Dick Gephardt tries to separate from the Democratic herd by offering a bold health care proposal that also repeals the ridiculous Dubya tax cuts. It was interesting to read of Gephardt’s proposal right after finishing Jacob Hacker’s The Divided Welfare State, since his proposal buttresses Hacker’s main point. Rather than develop a new public health care infrastructure a la the 1994 Clinton plan, Gephardt’s plan basically follows the path of least resistance and subcontracts health care out to private insurance companies. This will no doubt make it easier to pass in our neo-con political climate than the ’94 Clinton bill. That being said, as Hacker notes, letting the private sector run our social welfare regime severely cuts back on the redistributive potential of health care reform. But, hey, private universal health care coverage is better than no universal health care coverage. And it’s a smart move by Gephardt to appeal to the base.
Kerrying a Torch.
Continuing with his newfound Chris-Rock-in-Head-of-State candor, John Kerry announces he will only appoint pro-choice Supreme Court justices if elected. (He also takes the time to differentiate between political “litmus tests” and the defense of constitutional rights.) Kerry’s really onto something lately with the whole anti-Gore, Straight-Talk-Express bit…let’s hope it continues.
License to Incense.
Dahlia Lithwick fills us in on the legal standing of the pro-life license plates sprouting up across the South these days. Hmmm. I assume these plates afford much better protection from random police stops than would, say, a “Jah is my Co-Pilot” bumper sticker. I’m curious as to what percentage of these license plate owners also drive easy-to-flip SUV’s. If you’re so pro-life there, fella, why are you driving such a pro-death vehicle?