Obama & Healthcare: Less Imposition, More Choice

If there is any question at this political hour whether or not President Obama is a reasonable man, we need only look at the latest news from his health department.

"In a major surprise on the politically charged new health care law, the Obama administration said Friday that it would not define a single uniform set of “essential health benefits” that must be provided by insurers for tens of millions of Americans. Instead, it will allow each state to specify the benefits within broad categories."
(N.Y. Times)

Ahead of any health care rulings next year by the Supreme Court and the elections to follow, Obama is preparing the ground to counter any suggestion that he has imposed any sort of rigid ideologically driven program on Americans.  As we've long argued, he is far more interested in leaving a legacy than in undertaking a noble fight of purity that leaves him empty handed.

History will actually serve him well, even at this non-historical vantage point, given what has already been accomplished. Nobody will argue over perfection of implementation when the choice is one of imperfect policy or no policy. The Republicans have made sure that imperfect policy will always be the result, and until the public matches wisdom to outrage and supplies him with suitable support in Congress,  that won't change.

That said, if you were a soldier in Iraq, you are happy to be home. If you are starting to get some preexisting conditions or preventative care covered on your health policy, you are better off. If you are an Al Qaeda leader, you are likely enjoying the painful joy of your afterlife. And if you are headed to the ATM to pull out cash to finish your Christmas shopping, you are likely pulling an apple off the fruit tree of Obama economic sensibleness, where banks were rightly deemed important enough not to let fail in a manner that would lead to more bananas, less republic. If you are in Detroit making cars, you are for the moment relieved, and if you are buying a car, you have more choice than you might have had.

None of this was brought to you by his opponents, though we can thank George Bush for the offsetting visionary achievements of creating the economic collapse through blindness, and seeing the reasonable and quick partial solution via the TARP program. It's become common to criticize TARP from high (academic) and low (masses) vantage points, but in a bank run you don't fart around and your band aids don't come perfectly sized.

We assume the stark differences in achievement between the President and Congress, the President and the previous administration, and the President and his presidential opponent, will be made with some force next year. We hope people will be listening to actions, rather than reacting to words.