Dick Gephardt’s Flip-Flops on Universal Coverage
Dick Gephardt seems happy in his second career as a corporate lobbyist and is now a universal health care skeptic: “Now Mr. Gephardt says universal or near-universal coverage cannot pass this year — and he is urging the White House to defer that goal until it enacts cost-saving reforms in health care delivery.”
Igor Volsky at the Wonk Room has a nice roundup of Gerphardt’s contrary ideas from the 2004 campaign:
— “Howard Dean and the other candidates may think leaving tens of millions of Americans uninsured is acceptable….I think they’re wrong.” [NYT, 01/03/2004]
— Gephardt promised that if he reached the Oval Office he would immediately seek to repeal recent tax cuts. The money would be used to give tax credits to businesses, which would be required to provide health insurance to employees. Pension systems also should be simplified, he said, because too many Americans reach retirement without their finances secure. “Everyone who works will have health care,” Gephardt said.
— “It is immoral to have people without health insurance,” he said, speaking to about 70 people on the lawn of a Manchester home. “This issue is in my heart. It’s in my head. It’s in my soul. I will not rest until I get the people health insurance.” [Chicago Tribune, 07/22/2003]
— “Today in this country there is a great divide, a Grand Canyon between those who have health coverage and those who do not. And for too many, trying to cross from one side to the other is a hopeless pursuit.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 04/24/2003]
— “We have proven our mettle at liberating oppressed peoples. Let us prove our worth at liberating millions of Americans from economic oppression and a life without health care.” [NY Daily News, 04/24/2003]
It’s one thing to say that ambitious, progressive health care reform is just a bad idea. But if it’s something you favor, I think it’s very difficult to make the case that there’s some better time to do it than in the wake of a big progressive electoral sweep. Naturally, a lot of people in the K Street community have suddenly developed an appreciation for incremental change that was lacking back when they wanted giant tax cuts and Social Security privatization, but there’s no reason policymakers should be guided by that kind of caution.
22 Responses to “Dick Gephardt’s Flip-Flops on Universal Coverage”
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April 13th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
It’s a mistake to think that politicians have convictions. Dick Gephardt tried to get elected president on a platform of universal healthcare, but he failed. So he took up as a corporate lobbyist, and in this position success requires a different set of policy goals, so Gephardt has a different set of policy goals.
An agenda is simply a means of getting wealth and power, not some sort of characteristic belief system.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
What a total effing bastard turncoat.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
On the other hand, if Gephardht’s ineffectiveness and track record as a politician is any indication of the talent level of the other side, maybe UHC really does have a chance.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Okay — I just glanced at the Harwood piece. There’s barely a mention of Gepharhardt’s lobbying gig — and not a single nod to the, um, slight possibility that the man’s motives aren’t, you know, entirely noble. The story is presented as a serious look at the politics of UHC, and about the necessity of “caution” from “one who knows.”
Grrrrrr, my week had been off to a good start…
April 13th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Watching him flameout in 2004 was sooooo satisfying. I remember seeing him trying to have an event with the Steelworkers and someone yelled at him about Iraq and he got chanted off the stage with “dickheart”.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I never liked him, and I still don’t. But lobbyists are like lawyers. They are supposed to represent their client’s interests without letting personal feelings get in the way. He seems to be doing that well. Of course, one wonders why he didn’t become a union lobbyist. That would be more consistent with his past. I guess the corporate lobbyists get paid more.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Someone tell me the last recorded instance of Gephart being right about something. That guy was one of the main reasons Democrats were totally irrelevant throughout the Reagan/Bush I years. He belongs in the pantheon of political cluelessness.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Marshall (@#1) has it right. Gephardt is entirely consistent, truth be told. He pretended to support universal health care as a presidential candidate because he thought it would serve his interests, which were political, and now he pretends to oppose it because he thinks it serves his current interests, which are financial. The reality is that he cares as much about the issue as I care about Namibia’s electricity grid.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
But if it’s something you favor
I believe his nickname was ‘Old Flip-flop’ back in the day.
max
['Oy.']
April 13th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
“It is immoral to have people without health insurance,”
I take issue with this. 1/6 of the 40million without health insurance make more than $75k a year. If your able to afford health insurance and choose not to buy it then I really don’t have a problem with you being bankrupted if you get sick.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
My parents probably file jointly something over $75k a year, but probably not much more. They are the two employees of a computer consulting firm and they carry catastrophic style coverage and it’s still an insane amount of money.
My dad had chest pains and drove an hour and half to the VA hospital rather than even chance having to deal with it. That’s not sane.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
If your able to afford health insurance and choose not to buy it then I really don’t have a problem with you being bankrupted if you get sick…
I have a problem with it if your bills totaled 400 grand and over the years you didn’t contribute anything to the system that ultimately pays those bills because a) you had more enjoyable things to do with your money when you should have been paying health insurance premiums and b) the money taken in bankruptcy covers only a small portion of the bill.
Far better to implement a system of universal health insurance.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
“If your able to afford health insurance and choose not to buy it then I really don’t have a problem with you being bankrupted if you get sick.”
Has it occurred to you that some people simply can’t get coverage no matter how much money they have? I can afford insurance, but I can’t afford coverage. Any policy I buy will exempt my pre-existing conditions. So I don’t really get any coverage for my money. It’s cheaper for me to pay cash and hire a lawyer to keep my costs down. And when I get cancer, I’ll die. But insurance wouldn’t cover me for cancer, anyway.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
The phrase “flip flop” is dumb.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
fostert,
Why don’t you move?
April 13th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Isn’t he late for a signing ceremony with George W. Bush or something?
April 13th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
That’s assuming that they were given the opportunity to buy insurance. Pre-existing conditions are hell.
April 13th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
“This issue is in my heart. It’s in my head. It’s in my soul.”
It’s in his wallet, too. And wallet > heart + head + soul.
April 13th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
That’s assuming that they were given the opportunity to buy insurance. Pre-existing conditions are hell.
Not in New York state which as you know provides community rating. A 20yo healthy student and a chronically ill 63 year old all pay the same rate.
April 13th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Re: If your able to afford health insurance and choose not to buy it then I really don’t have a problem with you being bankrupted if you get sick.
You should. Who do you think is paying their bills when they burn them off in bankrupcty?
April 14th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Who do you think is paying their bills when they burn them off in bankrupcty?
Well, the bills charged to the uninsured are usually bullshit in any case, because the “standard rate” is set so that the “75% discount” billed for those with insurance still delivers the kind of profit that the facility actually expects.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Fantastic work!.
I am from Central and now study English, give true I wrote the following sentence: “Find discount airline tickets, shop bargain airfares.”
Thanks 8). Patamon.