Arrr, Matey ...

I wonder if Jack Kelly actually has feathers and a beak, because he is parroting the Republican line on healthcare reform (or at least trying to), no matter how self contradictory it is.

I am not going to spend a whole lot of time on Kelly’s column. He wants the status quo and he wants to make changes to make us more responsible. In other words, he doesn’t know what he wants. Republicans like John McCain say we should end the payroll tax deductions on health insurance, Kelly wants to transfer the tax deduction to individuals. Kelly thinks we will become more responsible about our own health insurance and treatment if we have to pay for annual yearly checkups, because we will know that will save us money in the long run. Which contains a nugget of wisdom, except that a lot of people will skip annual checkups if they have to pay for them. Meanwhile, if we disconnect health insurance from employers, then the benefit of having a whole group to cover and spread costs around will be lost for insurance companies, and they will raise rates prohibitively. Thanks Jack.

This is without detailing how Jack tells us that new healthcare machinery and drugs are naturally more expensive. It sounds for all the world like Jack wants to ration healthcare (except perhaps for himself).