Was the health care debate all for nothing?

Was the last six months of the health care debate a waste of time?

I don’t think so. Because we’ve established some facts here.

For one thing, we now know that all the previous votes to repeal Obamacare were fake votes. It’s clear the only reason those bills passed was because everyone knew Obama wouldn’t sign. Once there was a president who would sign, repeal didn’t sound so good.

Why did they choke? Because all the promises of a big beautiful replacement plan also turned out to be fake!

There is no plan. There is only a philosophy — that pushing health care closer to a free market can magically cover everybody for less money.

I looked up “free market health care.” You know what comes up? India. It’s the first example given by the Heritage Foundation.

Health care in India is unbelievably cheap. Open heart surgery is only about $3,000! A hernia operation is about $300! But half of the Indian population earns $2 a day, so to them, it’s not cheap. In fact, 84 percent can’t afford health insurance and they pay most of their costs out of pocket. For a big operation, families have to pool their savings.

But they have some great money saving ideas. Doctors are paid fixed salaries, no matter how many surgeries or tests they perform. Simple procedures are treated by para-professionals two years out of high school. Plus, you might be in a ward with 16 patients.

So it’s true, the free market can find ways to reduce health care costs. But we should be upfront about what it would mean. I’m sure in the American version, it would be a big beautiful ward with 16 patients.

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