Word: romney
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...taken out of the equation. With three simple questions--the kind that can be dropped casually in conversation or on national TV during a debate--anyone can discern whether a Republican's approach to health care is truly pitiless or merely unsympathetic. A look at how the HCCAT scores Romney's Massachusetts plan and the health-care tax deduction just announced by Rudy Giuliani shows how easy...
...that every American has basic health coverage? In the 21st century (as opposed to the 19th), the noncallous answer is yes. It can't be sidestepped with Giuliani-style language about making insurance so affordable that everyone will buy it. You either have a commitment to universal coverage--as Romney did in Massachusetts and Schwarzenegger does in California--or you don't. Rudy doesn't. (No wonder he won't say how many of the 45 million uninsured his health-care tax cut would cover.) Note that this question lets Republicans embrace universal coverage without supporting a Canadian- or British...
...Massachusetts, Romney made sure that individuals who are now mandated by law to buy coverage have access to groups, get subsidies if they're low earners, and can't be turned away because of existing conditions. (He fudged the financing, but it's the principle that counts.) Giuliani has called for none of this. If he really thinks the individual market is the answer, let's see this uninsurable prostate-cancer survivor try to buy a solo policy himself...
...consumer-directed health plans as nefarious, since these plans are sure to shift costs to unlucky sick folks who can't afford them. But if a Republican insists that such plans limit annual medical expenses to some fair portion of income, liberals should be willing to find common ground. Romney didn't do this in Massachusetts--a failing. But Giuliani actually boasts of an approach certain to hurt people. His health-care tax deduction, he gushed in Iowa recently, "allows you to go out and buy cheaper and cheaper policies [because] you can have higher and higher deductibles." When Americans...
Bottom line: Romney's 2-out-of-3 noncallous score means liberals can work with him, though there's room for improvement. But Rudy's strikeout on the HCCAT means one of two things: The man hasn't thought through his own health plan. Or--sad to say--he just doesn't care...