Health Care Reform

John Aravosis, one of the insured, writes about the frustrations of health coverage in the United States. He also links to a Washington Post piece about the "5 Myths of Out Ailing Health Care System."

These myths are:
(1) "America has the best health care in the world."
(2) "Somebody else is paying for your health care."
(3) "We would save a lot if we could cut the administrative waste of private insurance."
(4) "Health-care reform is going to cost a bundle."
(5) "Americans aren't ready for a major overhaul of the health-care system."

Regarding number 5, even David Broder, oracle of Inside-the-Beltway Conventional Wisdom and partisan of "Bipartisan Consensus", seems ready to embrace a major overhaul of the health-care system. He thinks Obama has set himself up for a major push on this front:

When Barack Obama's transition team let out word that former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle would be his choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services and to quarterback his work on health reform, it signaled that Obama is serious about his campaign promise to make that issue a first-term priority.

Daschle would not leave a lucrative job at a law firm to twiddle his thumbs. Only with a clear understanding that the new president will put his own political capital at risk in this cause would the South Dakotan sign up for the job.

Daschle can be of great help to Obama in achieving the goal. He has made his own in-depth study of health-care issues and brings a genuine passion to the subject. And he knows the Senate, where past efforts have foundered.

There are positive signs within the Senate as well. Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee, one of the two main centers of Senate action, moved first by releasing a detailed outline of his preferred piece of legislation. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the chairman of the other committee of jurisdiction -- Health, Education, Labor and Pensions -- quickly asserted his right to be at the center of action. He organized three task forces within his committee and reached out to Baucus to suggest that their staffs start exchanging ideas as well.