Bad Arguments and No Arguments

Ten days ago in the Michigan Daily, Chris Koslowski politicized the death of Ted Kennedy. But not in a way you might think:

Obama has said again and again that a major factor behind the failure of the current health care system is the execution of needless or futile medical procedures. Among these procedures, Obama specifically mentioned surgeries for terminally ill patients. During a primetime ABC broadcast from the White House this summer, he said, “Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.”...

Obama, and everyone who is in favor of public health insurance, needs to ask themselves... Would Kennedy, if he were a private citizen of average income under Obama’s public plan, have been able to pursue these life-extending procedures, given his age and condition?

Koslowski makes the point of all opponents of reform: "Obamacare is bad." But that doesn't fully address the relevant point: whether health-care reform will be better than what we have now. The fact that Koslowski doesn't ask whether his hypothetical, average-income Ted Kennedy would have been covered under a current, private plan (Answer: Probably not) shows that he hasn't done this cost-benefit analysis.

The problem is Democrats and proponents of health-care reform have not been making this argument effectively. Yes, whatever plan that comes out of Congress probably won't cover everything. But it will be better than what we have now.

Gov't: "I'm Not Listening, La La La La La"

Members of Congress apparently do not heed the common-sense findings of non-partisan commissions, deciding instead to listen to special interests or just pretending that the problems will just magically go away. It's cute when this little girl does it, but not grown men and women entrusted with running the country.

First up, Medicare. A bill passed the House that would have put off a scheduled cut in payments to physicians who treat Medicare patients. To fund the measure, money would be taken out of payments to the Medicare Advantage program, which allows patients to receive insurance benefits from private insurers instead of traditional Medicare. According to an independent commission, however, these payments are overly generous and make Medicare solvency more difficult. But Republican Senators sided with the insurance agencies and the bill fell two votes shy of the sixty needed for cloture. Worth noting: Sens. Levin & Stabenow (D-MI) voted for cloture, as did Sen. Obama (D-IL). Sen. McCain (R-AZ) was absent, as was Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) who at least has a good excuse as he's still recovering from brain surgery and cancer treatment.

Secondly, levee systems. A recent opinion piece by Gerald E. Galloway, a civil engineer associated with the University of Maryland and the Army Corps of Engineers, again levels much of the criticism against Congress. Dr./Prof./Brig. Gen. Galloway led a White House study after major flooding along the Mississippi in 1993. The study found that jurisdiction over the levees was scattered among local, state, and federal governments and that many levees "were woefully undersized." But years past and Katrina hit and now the floods in the Midwest and still nothing has happened. Bush requested (and received, I think, the article isn't exactly clear) $30 million in 2006 for the Army CoE to inventory and assess the nation's levees. No funds have been granted since then. Congress passed the National Levee Safety Act in 2007, which formally establihed the assessment, but still has not allocated funds.

So what's Congress doing now?

RECESS!