As long as we’re on the subject of what’s really important in the healthcare negotiations right now, you might want to check out Jordan Rau’s piece at the Kaiser Health Network. It’s all about affordability: regardless of whether or not the final bill includes a public option, health insurance will still be virtually unaffordable for a lot of people. And the key to fixing that in the real-world depends on the level of federal subsidies provided to low and medium income families who don’t have employer insurance and have to buy insurance themselves. This is where the rubber meets the road. Those subsidies are where the bulk of the cost of healthcare reform comes from, and figuring out a way to finance it is by far the biggest problem Congress faces. Go read.
