Question: What should a Health Care Reform bill look like?

Two words: Public option.  Note that this modest, hardly even progressive measure does not amount to a “government takeover” of health care.  Actually, I wish it did, but it doesn’t even come close.  Save for curbing some of the most outrageous abuses of the private insurance industry, President Obama’s health care plan will leave this market largely unchanged.

A public insurance option accomplishes two indispensible goals of reform by lowering costs and increasing coverage.  If every American had the option of a public insurance plan, private insurers would be compelled to lower their premiums in order to remain competitive.  Compared to the rising cost of premiums in the status quo, this measure would provide an effective tax cut for all Americans.  The choice of public insurance would also provide coverage for many of the 30 million Americans who currently can’t afford it.

Costs will only come down, however, if health reform includes an individual mandate – a requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance.  This rubs many libertarians the wrong way, but it shouldn’t.  Even those who are convinced of their invincibility will fall ill.  Those individuals push the cost of their care onto the rest of society, and their absence from the ranks of the insured hurts the bargaining power of individuals to demand lower premiums from their insurance providers.  Even then-Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney advocated the implementation of an individual mandate as a matter of “personal responsibility.”

If these measures bring down costs, increase choice and competition and compel Americans to exercise greater personal responsibility, why is there so much opposition on the right?  Easy.  Republicans are using the playbook from 1993 – the last time they killed health care reform.  As in the case of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, welfare-state programs inherently undermine the GOP’s knee-jerk “no-government-is-good-government” position.  In 1993, opposition to health care reform was shrewd political strategy.  In 2009, the situation is no different.

To Discuss this issue, please see all three of our editor’s viewpoints, and comment here.

Question: What should a Health Care Reform bill look like?

On the eve of Ted Kennedy’s death, after I finished a glass of my favorite brut and lit some scented candles (outside the dorms, of course…), I reflected on the life and legacy of the deceased Lion of the Senate, who is now being propped-up post-mortem, like a gangly overweight puppet and paraded about as a means to finance an ill-conceived health care “reform” package that is more agenda-ridden then, well… most of the things that Teddy ever touched.

The fact is, the liberal stronghold (a figurehead of power as they’ve recently proven, with their so-called supermajority and no way to pass anything meaningful other than flag-waiving and blame-chasing resolutions) has toted their socialization of medicine package as reform, and chastised those who don’t care to see their doctor become yet another supplicant of the state as against reform.

This is both wrong and immoral.  And, incidentally, I should address morality, as I was asked a very popular question while debating this very topic at Lehigh last year.  I was asked if I put costs or means or anything else ahead of care, and given yet another sob story on someone who was “lost in the system” and died young.

I replied that, yes, I do believe in picking “who shall live,” but it’s not with government panels and legislation, but with common sense.

At present, while I agree that the scope and nature of the term “preexisting condition” needs to be reviewed, those who smoke or are overweight, or use illegal substances are subject to additional tariffs and, in some cases, die from their disorders from a subsequent inability to pay.

I’d frankly rather see the obese or maligned die in small numbers, than face a government who (in an attempt to be brutally fair) will banish snack foods, sugar, cigarettes (I like to consider them a form of blue collar population control), and of course, the lovely glass of bubbly that I’m enjoying as I push my Matchbox cars off the surface of my desk into a pail of water, reflecting again on the life and legacy of Ted Kennedy.  And I don’t want to stop those who eat to excess or smoke from celebrating their freedom and doing it, so long as they don’t force their burden onto me.

We need reform.  We need health care providers to have certain restrictions on this “preexisting conditions” crap that is so often used to prevent paying customers from receiving care, and we need tort reform to reduce the costs of that care.  We don’t need 150% Medicare-grade cost overruns and “public health initiatives” in the form of more restrictions on our foods and habits.  After all, wasn’t it the liberals who chastised me for questioning what someone can do (or eat, or smoke, as the case may be) in the privacy of their home?

To Discuss this issue, please see all three of our editor’s viewpoints, and comment here.

For those who have visited The Lehigh Patriot website in the past, you’ll notice we have a new look. With the new website you should find it easier to access our articles, and join in the discussion. In addition to a more intuitive layout, the new website for The Patriot will allow us to publish news in a more timely fashion, and discuss issues that you care about when you care about them. As editor-in-chief, my hope is that you, the reader, choose to take advantage of this new site. I will be working to ensure that myself, and my fellow writers work to build a community that values open discussion. So with that, please take a look around our new website.

Over the next month or so, there will still be many changes made to this site, mainly superficial, to improve the quality of service we provide. There are, however, a few new features which I would like to mention.

First, on the right side of the screen you should see a box entitled “Word on the Web”. Expanding on the idea of Breaking the Bubble, which appeared in several issues last semester, this area will be reserved for your comments and thoughts on a wide array of issues. It’s easy enough to leave a comment – just enter your name, email, and your thoughts.

Second, the three editors for this year, myself, editor emeritus Trevor Drummond, and associate editor Brandon Sherman will be posting our editorials in the Editor’s Desk box at the top of the page. These editorials will be focused on current events, and respond to what we hear from readers like yourself, or from what we hear around campus. Again, we’re doing this with the goal of creating an open forum for the Lehigh community.

Third, and finally, our collection of articles has been organized. To explain:

• Features: here you will find articles that we deem to be headline material. If something big happens on campus or around the country, look for an article here.
• Articles: this is where you will find most of the Patriot articles that don’t deal with something pressing. If something hasn’t been in the news lately, but one of our authors finds it important enough to write about, look for the article here.
• Briefs: We know it, a lot of our articles are long, and you don’t have much time. Briefs are quick, to-the-point, and easy to read. We haven’t had many articles of this length in the past, but look for a few more of them now that they can be published while an issue is relevant.
• Updates: are a new addition to Patriot content. You probably won’t see these in the printed editions of the Patriot. Nonetheless, these posts will notify you of anything and anything – upcoming speakers or events at Lehigh, quick political news, stock market crashes, or even when the printed edition of the Lehigh Patriot will become available.

Beyond that, our content is broken down futher, as content has been in the past. We’ll have news articles, commentary (op-ed), arts and culture pieces, and humor articles. If you can’t find something, there’s an easy-to-use search bar at the top which will help you find any article you are looking for.

So again, welcome to the new Lehigh Patriot website, and it is my hope that you will join us in discussing issues that really matter. Through more discussion and dialogue, we can all become better versed on social and political topics, giving us a better chance to make our community a better place.

For those who have visited The Lehigh Patriot website in the past, you’ll notice we have a new look. With the new website you should find it easier to access our articles, and join in the discussion. In addition to a more intuitive layout, the new website for The Patriot will allow us to publish news in a more timely fashion, and discuss issues that you care about when you care about them. As editor-in-chief, my hope is that you, the reader, choose to take advantage of this new site. I will be working to ensure that myself, and my fellow writers work to build a community that values open discussion. So with that, please take a look around our new website.

Over the next month or so, there will still be many changes made to this site, mainly superficial, to improve the quality of service we provide. There are, however, a few new features which I would like to mention.

First, on the right side of the screen you should see a box entitled “Word on the Web”. Expanding on the idea of Breaking the Bubble, which appeared in several issues last semester, this area will be reserved for your comments and thoughts on a wide array of issues. It’s easy enough to leave a comment – just enter your name, email, and your thoughts.

Second, the three editors for this year, myself, editor emeritus Trevor Drummond, and associate editor Brandon Sherman will be posting our editorials in the Editor’s Desk box at the top of the page. These editorials will be focused on current events, and respond to what we hear from readers like yourself, or from what we hear around campus. Again, we’re doing this with the goal of creating an open forum for the Lehigh community.

Third, and finally, our collection of articles has been organized. To explain:

• Features: here you will find articles that we deem to be headline material. If something big happens on campus or around the country, look for an article here.
• Articles: this is where you will find most of the Patriot articles that don’t deal with something pressing. If something hasn’t been in the news lately, but one of our authors finds it important enough to write about, look for the article here.
• Briefs: We know it, a lot of our articles are long, and you don’t have much time. Briefs are quick, to-the-point, and easy to read. We haven’t had many articles of this length in the past, but look for a few more of them now that they can be published while an issue is relevant.
• Updates: are a new addition to Patriot content. You probably won’t see these in the printed editions of the Patriot. Nonetheless, these posts will notify you of anything and anything – upcoming speakers or events at Lehigh, quick political news, stock market crashes, or even when the printed edition of the Lehigh Patriot will become available.

Beyond that, our content is broken down futher, as content has been in the past. We’ll have news articles, commentary (op-ed), arts and culture pieces, and humor articles. If you can’t find something, there’s an easy-to-use search bar at the top which will help you find any article you are looking for.

So again, welcome to the new Lehigh Patriot website, and it is my hope that you will join us in discussing issues that really matter. Through more discussion and dialogue, we can all become better versed on social and political topics, giving us a better chance to make our community a better place.