Good for Sen. Warner on health care
By JR Hoeft | Saturday, August 1st, 2009 | PolicyU.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) ran last year as a “radical centrist”, yet we haven’t seen much fiscal discipline from him in less than a year in Congress. Perhaps health care will finally be that moment.
In an email to campaign supporters, Warner wrote:
“Reforming our health care system is essential to ensuring a prosperous future and it cannot wait. But I am concerned that far too little attention is being paid to containing the cost of any potential reform plan.
The status quo is not sustainable. But we cannot spend away our future to achieve the health reform we need.”
Hopefully, this is the start of that moderation and keen-business sense that Warner promised us in the campaign.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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8 Responses to "Good for Sen. Warner on health care"
Warner is a US Senator now, not a business man. He needs to come up with ideas and not rhetoric.
It’d be a nice change if anyone on either side of the aisle decided to present a real reform plan – that will actually expand coverage and reduce costs – rather than rhetoric.
Good for Mark Warner, I can say that I am pleased with this decision.
Mark,
You are right that we must focus on reducing costs. The conservative alternative to Obama’s plan actually works toward that goal. If we reduce costs then we will be able to expand coverage. That is something that Democrats and Republicans can come together on.
Reducing costs would need a major overhaul in health care providing, and I wish they’d do it.
The only thing that reduces cost is choice and price competition. There is no ability to “shop” for medical procedures. You go to a doctor, he tells you to go to a certain place and have something done. You go. Later, someone gets charged the amount, and if your insurance covers most of it, you find out after the fact what the cost is.
Imagine how that would work in any other part of our lives. Restaurants had menus with no prices. You bought a home and had no idea what it cost until they send you the mortgage bill that someone else paid anyway. You go car shopping, and there are no price stickers on anything. In fact, the people selling you the car have no idea what the car costs.
Right now, there is no incentive for anyone in the process to competitively offer services. There is no way for the consumer to say no to someone and yes to someone else for a better deal.
The only people with choice are the insurance companies, and their choice is whether to pay for something or deny it and leave it to the patient, who has zero information what to do next.
Current health care “reforms” are targeted at cutting inefficiencies (which is fine and should be done anyway) and universal coverage (which the only problem I see is people whose companies don’t provide it have a giant financial hurdle to climb.)
But those things don’t accomplish nearly enough to create downward pressure on costs that a truly free market health care system would provide, which would result in more choices of higher quality at lower costs.
Brian – you’d better watch out.
Sounding a little like a reasonable person there
Don’t let your friends know.
I’m gonna tell everyone
do we get to see MoveOn ads against Warner and Webb?
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/moveon-puts-blue-dogs-on-notice-block-health-care-reform-and-well-unleash-ads-on-you/
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