Nixon's Health Care Reform: Well To The Left Of ObamaCare [View All]

[MannyGoldstein]

To put the current health care "reform" proposal into perspective, here's what Richard Nixon Proposed in 1974:

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/September/03/nixon-proposal.aspx

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/opinion/31krugman.html">Paul Krugman writes of it:

"As many people have pointed out, Nixon’s proposal for health care reform looks a lot like Democratic proposals today. In fact, in some ways it was stronger. Right now, Republicans are balking at the idea of requiring that large employers offer health insurance to their workers; Nixon proposed requiring that all employers, not just large companies, offer insurance.

Nixon also embraced tighter regulation of insurers, calling on states to “approve specific plans, oversee rates, ensure adequate disclosure, require an annual audit and take other appropriate measures.” No illusions there about how the magic of the marketplace solves all problems."

Krugman's piece was written in August, before the recent evisceration of what little good was left in the plan. Right now, Nixon's plan looks that much better. Nixon's plan didn't make it through because Democrats, who controlled Congress, wanted better and they reached an impasse.h

To those who say that this is not the bill that Obama wanted, but simply the best he could get: Feingold says that this is exactly the bill Obama wanted, and Feingold's one of the few people I trust to not lie or shade the truth.

We all need to face the reality that virtually all of today's Democrats, including Obama, are simply Nixon/Reagan Republicans. Actually, they are far to the right of Nixon on many issues (although they escalate dumb wars equally well). If we like having Republicans running our Party, then we're good to go. Otherwise, we need change.

Change we can actually believe in.