Small ideas won't fix our health care crisis or reduce the deficit

Here's another in a series of superb commentaries offered by The New York Times on the need for health care reform. In part, the story says:

"When Republican Congressional leaders come to the White House’s health care summit meeting on Feb. 25, don’t expect them to bring any big ideas with them. Instead, they will press President Obama to scrap his ambitious health care reforms and focus on modest proposals. That may make political sense. Americans have certainly been spooked by all of the Republican hype about government takeovers. But the small ideas the Republicans are championing would barely make a dent in the most critical problems threatening the health care system: the huge number of Americans without insurance and the ever-escalating costs of health care."

The story then goes on to say that many of the Republicans' ideas have merit, but "they are not enough to fix the broken health care system. ... the Congressional Budget Office judged that a bill championed by House Republicans would leave some 17 percent of all legal non-elderly residents without coverage in 2019 — the same percentage as now. The Democratic bills passed by the House and the Senate would leave only 4 to 6 percent uninsured."

The story then lists "the main 'fixes' contained in Republican reform bills. It is well worth taking the time to read the entire piece.