Krugman praises Obama health care initiative

Oh what a difference a dinner makes.

Sometime in the past two weeks, Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz joined Barack Obama for dinner. Many on the left saw this as a good thing, since in the past, Obama and his people seemed disdainful of the kind of economic tough love Krugman and Stiglitz were preaching. Since that time, Krugman's latest article reveals, the administration is actually reaching out to him about their policy proposals, and Krugman is actually praising them.

It's about health care this time. Chris wrote about the news earlier - an effort to shave $2 trillion off of health care costs in the next decade. Obama's budget director is reportedly "giddy" over the proposal, and Krugman seems to be as well.

Speaking of health care, there was an article last week about how Democrats on the Hill were meeting to discuss various health care proposals, and one proposal talked about letting "middle-class Americans" have access to some sort of government-sponsored health care. If the article is correct, then we have a huge problem. The problem isn't just that middle-class Americans can't get adequate health insurance. The problem is that none of us can.

I'm hardly blue collar (though with this year's economy, I may soon be). I work for myself, and therefore have to get my own health insurance. I picked the best self-employed health care plan I could get at CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield (or, as I call them, CareLast). The plan is exorbitant at $410 (or so) a month, but at least I can afford it. My problem? Not the cost, per se, yet. My premiums are going up from around 13% to 25% a year, so they will soon be totally out of control. Still, my biggest problem is that CareLast refuses to offer any serious prescription benefits. I ran out of my benefits at the beginning of last November, CareLast cut me off, because I'd already spent my "whopping" $1500 in annual prescriptions (that'll buy you a five month's supply of Advair). There is no better plan I can buy from Blue Cross.

If you have any kind of chronic condition, $1500 a year is a joke. You in essence have no prescription drug coverage. And it's going to get much worse as you age, since the crooks at CareLast never up your coverage. Meaning, I started with $1500 in prescription coverage in 1997, and even though they've tripled my premiums since that time, I get the same $1500 in coverage today, and I'll have the same $1500 in coverage in 15 years - that should be just enough to buy me a frapuccino at that point.

Our health care system is being run by thieves. These people don't care if you stay healthy or get better, they're the nasty chairman of the board on House a few seasons back who was simply interested in making money, nothing more.

Democrats need to keep reminding themselves that the problem isn't just costs. The problem isn't just the uninsured. The problem is that all of us are bought into a system that doesn't work. And even those of us who make a good salary for a living (well, in other years) will be in serious trouble if we ever come down with any serious illness that requires $2000 a month in prescriptions (such as MS or HIV).

We need a fix that doesn't just add more people into a bad system. We need more people in a better system. And the better system needs to benefit everyone, not just the poor, not just the middle class.