CNN iReport

This is simply an amazing piece on the Senate healthcare proposal.  It’s a long read, but contains some pivotal information on the current plan, including cost and savings analysis by such people as Jonathan Gruber, Dr. Alan Garber, OMB Director Peter Orszag, Mark McClellan, the former director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services under George W. Bush and Len Nichols, health policy director at the centrist New America Foundation

One comment that struck me was actually one of McCellan’s:

“McClellan stands at the forefront of centrist Republican thinking on health. Even the more ideologically conservative health care thinkers to his right generally don't oppose long-term reform ideas like bundling payments (John McCain promoted that during his presidential campaign). But they tend to view them as insufficient or tangential to the real problem. Their view highlights a fundamental difference between the parties' on health care. To save costs, Democrats mostly want to change the incentives for providers. Republicans mostly want to change the incentives for patients by shifting toward a model where insurance covers only catastrophic expenses and people pay for more routine care from tax-favored health savings accounts. In essence, the Republican view is that the best way to hold down long-term costs is to directly expose patients to more of them. Few Democrats accept that logic though and it has little influence on either chamber's legislation.”

The entire article and commentaries can be found here: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/a_milestone_in_the_health_care_journey.php

If you are growing wear of partisan politics and want to uncover some semblance of truth, please read. I would post the text here but I feel it is far too long to do so.  What I find particularly interesting is there is much commentary in here from centralist Republicans and Center-to-left Democrats, rather than the “fringe” politicians we all know and love.

Read on on, enjoy and please, let’s discuss.