If you have not yet read Nicholas Kristoff's Op-Ed piece in today's New York Times, you should put it on your must-read list. He makes a great yet modest proposal concerning health-care reform. More below.
Nicholar Kristoff really hits it out of the park in his Op-Ed column in today's New York Times.
Let Congress Go Without Insurance
Let me offer a modest proposal: If Congress fails to pass comprehensive health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in proportion with the American population that is uninsured.
It may be that the lulling effect of having very fine health insurance leaves members of Congress insensitive to the dysfunction of our existing insurance system. So what better way to attune our leaders to the needs of their constituents than to put them in the same position?
About 15 percent of Americans have no health insurance, according to the Census Bureau. Another 8 percent are underinsured, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy research group. So I propose that if health reform fails this year, 15 percent of members of Congress, along with their families, randomly lose all health insurance and another 8 percent receive inadequate coverage. [....]
This is really a superb idea. However, it may unfairly penalize those in Congress like Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY9) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who have been strong proponents of robust reforms in our dysfunctional health-care system.
So, my proposed refinement of Mr. Kristoff's great suggestion is that those who vote against robust health-care reform be placed in the random-selection pools for uninsured or inadequately insured status.