Wyden has a plan, and has had a plan

Ron Wyden of Oregon (D) is one of the so-called Centrist Democrats who are being seen by liberal democrats as obstructing the current health care reform efforts currently underway in congress. The Centrist Democrats are being villified as obstructionists to getting reform done. The problem I have with the villification is at least one of the Senators, Wyden is raising some good points about why delaying the reform is a good idea. As I have noted in previous posts, the current reforms in Congress do nothing, if not encourage health care costs to increase. Sure, 97% of Americans could be covered, but the cost would probably break the country in 20 years. Containing costs is the real key, and I think that Senator Wyden has some great ideas to do that. He isn't proposing a single-payer system, but his compromise seems like the next-best thing. He's had some form of his proposal around for a couple of years now. Here's an excerpt from a Slate article written in 2007:

Under Wyden's plan, employers would no longer provide health coverage, as they have since World War II. Instead, they'd convert the current cost of coverage into additional salary for employees. Individuals would use this money to buy insurance, which they would be required to have. Private insurance plans would compete on features and price but would have to offer benefits at least equivalent to the Blue Cross "standard" option. Signing up for insurance would be as easy as ticking off a box on your tax return. In most cases, insurance premiums would be withheld from paychecks, as they are now.

He now has a new from posted on his website. It looks about the same, just updated with new dollar numbers. His plan only covers %70 of costs and doesn't address catastrophic events where the %30 would wipe out a family's financial plan, but I think he has a lot going for him.

The current plans are quite bad in terms of cost-containment but are quite good for short-term political gain. Let's stop going for the short-term gains and try and have some long-term vision. Mr. Wyden is doing that, and he has my support.