With this week’s vote to repeal President Obama’s health care reform, House Republicans struck a blow for freedom.
They struck a blow for the freedom of hospitals to avoid financial penalties, no matter how many Medicare patients develop infections under their care. They struck a blow for the freedom of hospitals to avoid consequences, no matter how many Medicare patients are readmitted soon after treatment. And they struck a blow for the freedom of health care providers to receive unending annual increases in their Medicare reimbursements, even if they fail to improve their productivity by even a fraction of what’s occurring in other industries.
Take that, Big Government.
Coming from me or Jon Chait, this wouldn’t be worth a second glance. But it’s from longtime center-left political columnist Ronald Brownstein, who doesn’t normally engage in quite such obvious snark. It’s a sign that healthcare reform really is here to stay and mainstream Washington is already tiring of Republican game playing about repeal. It’s also, I think, a sign that if Republicans really do try to shut down the government come March, they’re not going to have much of anyone besides Fox News on their side.
