Krugman: Health Care Proposal "Some Of Best Policy News I've Heard In A Long Time"

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Paul Krugman: Health Care Proposal "Some Of The Best Policy News I've Heard In A Long Time"

The Huffington Post | Rachel Weiner | 05/11/09 10:49 AM


On Sunday, the Obama administration announced it was working with trade associations, pharmaceutical groups and other stakeholders in the health care debate on a major effort that could save more than $2 trillion over the next decade. Full details will be revealed at the White House Monday.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman notes today that one of the groups involved is a descendant of the lobbyists that helped kill health care reform with "Harry and Louise." Krugman says he's wary of the shift -- he thinks industry groups will use good will created by this move to try to kill a public health plan backed by progressives). Still, he calls today's developments "some of the best policy news I've heard in a long time."

The fact that the medical-industrial complex is trying to shape health care reform rather than block it is a tremendously good omen. It looks as if America may finally get what every other advanced country already has: a system that guarantees essential health care to all its citizens.

And serious cost control would change everything, not just for health care, but for America's fiscal future. As {Budget Director Peter} Orszag has emphasized, rising health care costs are the main reason long-run budget projections look so grim. Slow the rate at which those costs rise, and the future will look far brighter. I still won't count my health care chickens until they're hatched. But this is some of the best policy news I've heard in a long time.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/11/paul-krugman-health-care_n_201431.html