Out of touch and clueless

We know that George Bush (both of them) and the Republican power players don't give a rats ass about anybody that isn't a millionaire. They think the economy is booming because it is for the only people they see or talk to, yes, the millionaires. Yes Bush and his "advisors" are out of touch with 95% of the American people. His health care "fix" is just the latest example of how clueless and out of touch they are and one can only wonder if they think the American public is really stupid or if they are really that clueless and out of touch. That is the subject of Paul Krugman's commentary today,
Gold-Plated Indifference

President Bush’s Saturday radio address was devoted to health care, and officials have put out the word that the subject will be a major theme in tomorrow’s State of the Union address. Mr. Bush’s proposal won’t go anywhere. But it’s still worth looking at his remarks, because of what they say about him and his advisers.

On the radio, Mr. Bush suggested that we should “treat health insurance more like home ownership.” He went on to say that “the current tax code encourages home ownership by allowing you to deduct the interest on your mortgage from your taxes. We can reform the tax code, so that it provides a similar incentive for you to buy health insurance.”

Wow. Those are the words of someone with no sense of what it’s like to be uninsured.

Going without health insurance isn’t like deciding to rent an apartment instead of buying a house. It’s a terrifying experience, which most people endure only if they have no alternative. The uninsured don’t need an “incentive” to buy insurance; they need something that makes getting insurance possible.

I must admit that De Krugman is perhaps a bit out of touch as well. There is nothing terrifying about making the decision to rent an apartment instead of buying a house. There are some of us who simply don't want a house. But I digress. As Krugman points out Bush's proposal is absurd because it will have no impact on the majority of those without health insurance. Once again the question, how dumb are they or how dumb do they thin the American people are?

Most people without health insurance have low incomes, and just can’t afford the premiums. And making premiums tax-deductible is almost worthless to workers whose income puts them in a low tax bracket.

Of those uninsured who aren’t low-income, many can’t get coverage because of pre-existing conditions — everything from diabetes to a long-ago case of jock itch. Again, tax deductions won’t solve their problem.

The only people the Bush plan might move out of the ranks of the uninsured are the people we’re least concerned about — affluent, healthy Americans who choose voluntarily not to be insured. At most, the Bush plan might induce some of those people to buy insurance, while in the process — whaddya know — giving many other high-income individuals yet another tax break.

While proposing this high-end tax break, Mr. Bush is also proposing a tax increase — not on the wealthy, but on workers who, he thinks, have too much health insurance. The tax code, he said, “unwisely encourages workers to choose overly expensive, gold-plated plans. The result is that insurance premiums rise, and many Americans cannot afford the coverage they need.”

Again, wow. No economic analysis I’m aware of says that when Peter chooses a good health plan, he raises Paul’s premiums. And look at the condescension. Will all those who think they have “gold plated” health coverage please raise their hands?

According to press reports, the actual plan is to penalize workers with relatively generous insurance coverage. Just to be clear, we’re not talking about the wealthy; we’re talking about ordinary workers who have managed to negotiate better-than-average health plans.

So of course what Mr Bush's health care plan really is is another tax break for the wealthiest Americans while shafting those who work.

Now I am a firm believer in the free market system but their are places where it doesn't work and regulation is required or we will return to feudalism. But to the laissez-faire Republicans the free market is the solution to everything.

Mr. Bush, on the other hand, is still peddling the fantasy that the free market, with a little help from tax cuts, solves all problems.

What’s really striking about Mr. Bush’s remarks, however, is the tone. The stuff about providing “incentives” to buy insurance, the sneering description of good coverage as “gold plated,” is right-wing think-tank jargon. In the past Mr. Bush’s speechwriters might have found less offensive language; now, they’re not even trying to hide his fundamental indifference to the plight of less-fortunate Americans.

So, are they clueless, indifferent or out of touch. If you answered all of the above you would probably be correct.

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Paul Krugman, Bush, Health Care

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