I would like to respond to the opinions in the Alligator that show a bias against health reform. And ignoring the likely possibility that these gentlemen watch Fox News, I'm going to try to debate with them rationally. First of all, studies show that 45,000 people are dying otherwise avoidable deaths every month based on the simple fact that they don't have health insurance. If that isn't worth fixing, I don't know what is.
Now that that is out of the way, I would like to shoot down all of Daniel Morris' so-called "solutions" to our health care problems. One: tort reform. As Morris so eloquently put it, the federal government has limits on what it can and cannot do. Tort reform can only be handled on the state level because accident compensation varies widely across jurisdictions.
Two: decoupling insurance from employment. This is also known as the Wyden-Bennett bill, and it was shot down by both Republicans and Democrats. Why didn't I see your Alligator response when that was being fought over?
Finally: allowing insurance companies to travel across state lines. Dumb idea. Regulations on insurance differ from state to state. Open up state lines, and every insurance company is going to move to the state with the easiest regulations.
Sure our health insurance will be cheaper, but it will also be worthless because our insurance will simply be able to deny us coverage whenever it feels like it. Not exactly reform I can believe in.
