Ezra Klein on Health Care Reform: What is Bipartisanship Worth?

Should Health Care Reform Be Bipartisan?



David Broder has a column today talking up the Wyden-Bennett bill and the importance of bipartisanship in health reform. He quotes Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), saying, "we will fight almost to the last man and woman against a government-run plan." This comes on the heels of a Post editorial calling Obama's support for a public plan "disappointing," as it would "doom what Mr. Obama says are his hopes for a bipartisan agreement."

Fair enough. There's an obvious logic to bipartisanship, particularly when you're pursuing large reforms in a closely divided republic. But I'd like to see some transparent calculations about the worth of bipartisanship. The question of Republican votes, after all, isn't whether they are, all else being equal, a good thing. It's whether they're worth the tradeoffs necessary to attain them.

Broder and the Post editorial board focus other portions of their arguments on the importance of cost controls, for instance. So it would be interesting to see them explain how many Republican votes you have to gain to justify losing a policy that would lower the costs of health insurance by nine percent a year, as the Lewin Group estimated a "level-playing field" public plan would do. And how many Republican votes are worth sacrificing a policy that would lower the cost of health insurance by between 20 percent and 30 percent a year, as the Commonwealth Fund estimated a "strong" public plan would do?

And it's not just the public plan. Republicans have grave concerns about the cost of health reform. Much of that cost comes from the subsidies that help low-income Americans afford health insurance. Are 10 Republican votes worth lowering the subsidies from 400 percent of poverty to 300 percent of poverty and leaving out, say, eight million Americans? Are five Republican votes worth leaving out eight million Americans? Two Republican votes? It would be nice if someone published a table or something.

(Photo credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/06/what_is_bipartisanship_worth.html