November 3, 2013
The “You Can Keep Your Health Plan” Pledge
By: Joseph S. Fichera
The President was wrong when he said you could keep your health care plan under the Affordable Care Act. He should have said you can keep your health care plan IF it meets the new minimum requirements that Congress believes are in the best interests of all Americans.
It’s ok to establish new minimum standards but nothing is free. And that’s what has been glossed over/distorted or whatever in the debate. Expanding coverage to the uninsured and expanding coverage of the insured while reducing costs are competing objectives. There are “efficiencies of scale” and “productivity gains” to be had but they rarely occur immediately.So what we are dealing with right now are called “transition costs” among other things. Obama the professor and policy wonk understands this. The rest of us don’t really. The President needs to speak in plain English. Keep his promises and fix the parts of thaw that need fixing. Yes, easier said than done…but he needs to begin the process rather than defend the plan at all costs.