Robert Reich on Health Care

President Clinton's secretary of labor, Robert Reich, criticizes the health care overhaul bill from the left, but really, from the point of view of ordinary American taxpayers: "What no one wants to admit is that Congress never actually implements promised Medicare savings. When crunch time comes, it caves in to the AMA and the AARP. In a few years time, when boomers swell the ranks of seniors, and the political power of the AMA and AARP together rival that of Wall Street, the cave-ins will be boggling." More: "Because Big Insurance, Big Pharma, and the AMA will come out way ahead, the legislation will cost taxpayers and premium-payers far more than it would otherwise. Cost controls are inadequate; in fact, they barely exist. If Wall Street's top brass are 'fat cats,' as the President described them last weekend, the top brass of Big Insurance, Big Pharma, and the AMA are even fatter. While they don't earn as much, they're squeezing the public for even more." While Mr. Reich seems not to share my concerns that government-imposed cost controls on drug companies and doctors will discourage innovation and hurt quality, he's onto something with his complaint with his sense that the interest groups are "squeezing the public."