Today’s WSJ exposes the cynicism of Barack Obama’s main health care advisors, Jason Furman and David Cutler, who executed neat pirouettes on health policy after signing on with “the One.”
Before becoming an Obamaton, Furman was a vocal advocate for very type of reforms that John McCain proposes to make in the employer-based insurance system:
When President Bush unveiled a health reform similar to Mr. McCain’s in 2007, Mr. Furman co-authored a Tax Policy Center paper that called it “innovative and a step in the right direction.” As recently as May, he published a long article in Health Affairs on the possibilities of health-care tax reform.
Now Furman is working for a man committed to preserving an employer-based system he once (correctly) denounced as regressive and inequitable. And his fellow weathervane, David Cutler, was just as critical:
Health insurance is not something that is made better by tying it to employment. As a result, essentially all economists believe that universal coverage should be done outside of employment.
Both Furman and Cutler know that Obama’s insistence on preserving the employer-based system is a dumb idea that will exacerbate health care inflation. Moreover, as the WSJ points out:
These advisers know that Mr. Obama’s claim that Mr. McCain will tax health benefits ‘for the first time in history’ is particularly disingenuous.
In other words, they know Obama is a liar as well. And yet, apparently hoping for prestige posts in an Obama Adminsitration, they stay with this fraud and parrot his dishonest talking points.
Do we really want such cynical people making health care policy during the next four years?
Post a Comment