Healthcare Plan Cage Match: Krazy Kenny To Tap Out

So we ended up in a PR cage match on healthcare today, pitting Krazy Kenny Blackwell versus Ted “Turnaround” Strickland. Kenny got a Teducation by doing the look over the shoulder routine. Too bad us big bad bloggers were watching. The old flip flop flipper got busted, to be sure.

What was the answer from the Krazy Kenny Klan? Basically copy Ted BUT (big but) add in a personal mandate. No, I’m sorry, it’s not a mandate (though it would be required) – it’s just a requirement for “personal responsibility”. Implied here is that the 10% of Ohioans uninsured at the moment is due to personal irresponsibility. Right. Krazy Kenny’s plan is basically saying: “Hey, ya’ll get you some insurance…OK? Damn!”

There are almost zero details on how the plan would work. You can read it all (all 9 pages of it) here in pdf.

So this is Krazy Kenny’s answer to the uninsured in Ohio: “Hey,man. I got mine. Now get yours. It’s the law”. I wonder if he’ll couple it with a cute little slogan like “Click it or Ticket”? A $7 billion mandate. Lovely.

The more ominous question is this: In a free market, what incentive would businesses have to keep their plans active if individuals were required to have insurance? I’d like to know details on this. I know the touted Romney plan did not want to include mandatory per person fees for employers of 11 or more, but they apparently have that provision.

The real problem with healthcare in America is cost. We spend damn near double what the rest of the OECD does on average (Weiner).

Republicans are trying to find market fixes for the privilege to have quality healthcare. Progressives view quality healthcare as a fundamental right. Therein lies the difference.