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Michael Steele is Definitely Missing Something

I think it’s safe to say that RNC Chairman Michael Steele doesn’t have a great grasp of the health care system. In his guise as guest host of Bill Bennett radio show, Steele repeatedly denounced government involvement in health care and then suggested that an alternative approach to the problems of cost and access is to wave a magic wand and say “do the deal” a lot. Check it out:

STEELE: So if it’s a cost problem, it’s easy: Get the people in a room who have the most and the most direct impact on cost, and do the deal. Do the deal. It’s not that complicated.

If it’s an access question, people don’t have access to health care, then figure out who they are, and give them access! Hello?! Am I missing something here? If my friend Trevor has access to health care, and I don’t, why do I need to overhaul the entire system so I can get access he already has? why don’t you just focus on me and get me access?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=CC2j1YbzmHc

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In the real world, it’s hard to broaden access without reducing costs and it’s hard to reduce costs without some kind of systemic change. A publicly-run plan, for example, would cut costs and set the stage to broaden access. But that would involve the dread government.