I didn’t even have to do this one. Just wait around and the Post takes care of everything. (If only.)
Here’s the health-care plans of the top Presidential candidates.
Hillary has a chance to gain an advantage here, but she won't. Obama's plan suffers both from being employer-based and involving the insurance companies and it obviously won't work. Edwards is going with a gradual approach that involves insurance companies and tax manipulations and that won't work, but we won't find out until his second term.
Hillary would gain a real advantage with voters by simply copying the Kucinich proposal and giving the American people what they want, but I doubt all that money from the pharmaceutical industry would keep flowing if she did. My guess is that she will end up making Edwards and Obama's plans look good by comparison.
Posted by: Charley on September 17, 2007 11:09 AMAs you say, so far Kucinich has offered the only true single-payer plan. The Edwards plan, on the other hand, allows people to opt into a single-payer system, while also allowing the insurance companies to compete in the open market. If they can beat the single-payer system in efficiency (I think Medicaid's overhead is something like 2%), great! If not, they can shut up.
The Kucinich plan is more honest. The Edwards plan has a slightly higher chance of passing. Between the pure, definitely-not-gonna-be-nominated candidates, and the impure-but-have-a-shot candidates, pressure has built to do something about health care. And possibly poverty, Cuba, unions, and a couple of other things.
My question is, if you're following the campaign trail already like I am, how much of the Democratic agenda is driven by the progressive wing, candidates like Kucinich, Richardson, Edwards, and Gravel? I'd say quite a lot. And it seems to me that it's the threat that Edwards might actually take the nomination that's animating the DLC, who's basically had a lock on the Democratic nomination for the last couple of decades similar in scope and destructive capability to that of the so-called Christian right on the Republican party.
And it's often been proven that "leaders" would rather lead a weak party than be wise elders in a strong one.
Rove is no more afraid of Hillary than he was of Kerry. Dodd, Biden, Kucinich, Gravel, he can handle. Edwards/Obama '08, that's the dream ticket.
Posted by: Chuck Dupree on September 17, 2007 10:12 PM