Jon Cohn just published my guest post on The New Republic’s The Treatment blog. In it I continue my exploration of lessons learned from the health reform effort to date. One conclusion is that government may not be a solution, though for a different reason than is meant by most people who make that claim.
Usually proponents of markets or libertarian ideals view government as an impediment to good outcomes. The experience of health reform has revealed another sense in which government may not be the solution–because it can’t get out of its own way. That is, our government is improperly structured to solve the problems we face. It isn’t necessarily that government can’t be a solution or that government can’t propose a solution, it is that government can’t pass a solution, at least not very often. Even if health reform ultimately passes, it is clear that an historically rare level of single-party control was required to pull it off.
Please read the whole post. Also, if you’re a health policy junkie consider subscribing to The Treatment. It’s another low volume/high quality blog.
