Health policy experts scoff
    at “government takeover” charge

Health finance heavyweights can’t figure out how anyone could call the Kerry proposal a “government takeover.”

Sixty-eight of the top health care finance experts in the country have been so outraged by GWB’s insistence that the Kerry health proposals amount to a “government takeover of health care” that they have put out a statement saying simply “NOT!!!”

Full text and signers list.

Here’s the topic paragraph, or “nut graf,” as we say in journalese:

Although Senator Kerry’s proposals should be subject to a full analysis of their cost and impact, any claim that they amount to “government run health care” or a “government takeover” of the health care system or of health care decision-making is simply inconsistent with the facts. We are not aware of any expert in health care or health care finance, whatever his or her political orientation, who believes otherwise.

The signers are an all-star team, including the current editor (Mark Schlesinger of Yale) and the immediate past editor (Mark Peterson of UCLA) of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, plus Rashi Fein of Harvard, Ted Marmor of Yale, Stuart Altman (Brandeis), Robert Haveman (Wisconsin), Richard Kronick (UC San Diego), Arleen Leibowitz (UCLA), Harold Luft (UC San Francisco), and Uwe Reinhardt (Princeton).

Just one more piece of evidence that the grown-ups are getting restless. The statement is deftly worded, but extraordinarily strong: they don’t just give their opinion that Kerry hasn’t called for a “government takeover,” they say that no one who understands the problem thinks it is.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

2 thoughts on “Health policy experts scoff
    at “government takeover” charge”

  1. WHEN INTELLECTUAL HONESTY GETS IN THE WAY…

    Tom Maguire is a smart conservative who knows how to pinpoint the weakness in any lefty argument and mock it until the whole thing starts to sound as crazy and dangerous as a Manson family reunion…

  2. Experts agains Bush

    …the list of experts writing open letters to Bush condemning his failed policies, or openly endorsing Kerry because of Bush's failed policies, has grown. We're pretty sure the list is still far from complete, but so far we have:

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