Republicans Mustn't Match Democrats' Arrogance in Victory

Nice, Peter. One step might be a thoughtful, deliberate, well-considered plan to gradually move away from the third-party health payer system toward a system that empowers patients and physicians to manage their relationships personally and directly. The first steps should be incremental and voluntary. One step might be to treat personal health insurance premiums and corporate premiums equally, making both fully deductible. Taking the best of the Calif. and Texas med mal reforms national could be another step. Giving the AMA or other M.D. and health groups more incentives to do more pro bono work would be another. There are many other steps to restore the doctor-patient relationship for which strong majorities could be won. With the notable exception of controlling long-term spending (achieving the short-term balanced budget caused folks to let down their guards), the Contract was generally successful. If we learn from that experience, we'll do better next time.

Paul Wilkinson of CA 3:47PM January 22, 2010