Scarborough is right to put his finger on exploding costs as one of the major problems about our current system that needs to be addressed. And he’s also right that Steele’s “plan” doesn’t deliver a solution. Looking at each of Steele’s four points:
1) Portability is a key feature of Obama’s health care plan. Anyone who enters into the new national health insurance exchange would be able to purchase insurance that stays with them, even if they switch jobs.
2) Steele says he’s for co-ops, by which he presumably means “association health plans.” AHPs wouldn’t help cover the uninsured, but would increase the costs of coverage and would allow selected small businesses to operate outside state regulations.
3) Steele’s tax proposal would mean that young and healthy workers would opt out of employer plans for cheaper coverage, meaning employers could no longer meet participation requirements to purchase insurance. The whole insurance system would slowly unravel, leaving even more people without care.
4) Steele’s proposal of tort reform addresses only 0.46 percent of total health care expenditures.
Since he concedes he doesn’t do policy, Steele shouldn’t show up on MSNBC and pretend like he can.
And he showed his policy wonkishness on CNN!!!!!
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