OpEd: Trojan horse or sensible solution? (Brattleboro Reformer)

May 30, 2012

By Richard Davis

Vermont and the State of Washington can both boast of strong proponents of health care reform. We have Bernie Sanders and they have Rep. Jim McDermott. McDermott is in his 12th term in congress and he is a vocal proponent of liberal causes. Support of a single payer health care system is near the top of his list.

Last week word leaked out that McDermott was about to introduce a bill that would allow states to create their own health care systems, providing flexibility for something akin to Medicare for All. From what I have been able to find out, the bill also has the potential to push Republicans up against the wall of their own rhetoric.

One of the recent mantras of Tea Partyers and many Republicans is that the federal government has grown too big and that states should be given more power to innovate and create their own programs. That is what McDermott’s bill intends to do.

The bill would not only allow for single payer experiments, but it would also let states figure out ways to create their own health care systems. If Texas wants to have a wild-west free market system open to the highest health insurance bidder, they would be able to do so.

According to an article in the May 25 LA Times by David Lazarus, “McDermott’s bill is based on the congressman’s belief that the Affordable Care Act will be upheld and the congressman’s new bill is meant to achieve the overall goals of the Affordable Care Act while giving states the option to build an alternative single payer system,” said McDermott spokesman Kinsey Kiriakos.

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