Democratic Party Happy Talk on Health Care

Brian Colón, the Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, and I took part in an online health care debate for the Albuquerque Journal last week. He essentially re-stated his opening remarks in an opinion piece on health care that appeared yesterday in the Journal.

Unfortunately, while Colón is good at providing talking points as to why we need health care reform, he does a lot of writing without actually suggesting any specific ways in which Americans in general and New Mexicans in general can obtain less costly, better health care. This is not a surprise since Colón is not a policy expert, rather he is a party builder, and he may not want to step on any toes. After all, not all elected Democrats support “universal,” let alone single-payer, health care.

Unlike Brian, I have actually proposed some specific health care reforms that will, if adopted, reduce costs and lead to better health care. The problem I have with most advocates of so-called “reform” is that they are working under the assumption that the politicians can get together and Washington and come up with a government system that will please everyone. Unfortunately (for them), as Obama and Congressional leadership have been forced to come up with specifics, the various interest groups have started fighting and the plan seems to be stalling.

The simple fact is that we live in a world of limited resources. While everyone thinks they can get their way when they sit down at the lobbying table, the fact is that someone ultimately loses in a zero-sum game.