First Take On Obama's Health Care Speech

An audacious set of guidelines for health care reform. How dead in the water are they? The stipulation that all companies must provide health care pretty much makes it D.O.A. It seems to me that it combines the benefits of nationalized health care with the inefficiencies of a deeply regulated hierarchy of public-private partnerships, while preserving a core flaw of our current system--the idea that health care can be a profit-making enterprise. If you're a health insurance company, and you can't turn anyone down, how do you grow your profits? Simple, you add as many customers as possible by buying up smaller companies, etc. The logical outcome is Wal*Care. Still, in the long run, it may be better than what we have now. There was a nice moment with the Republicans sitting there, shi**ing brix, while Obama mocked them with the token promise of 'demonstration projects' for their ideas.

Update: the Obama plan sets a threshold of 50 employees for the health care requirement.