Dr. Maccoby participates in a Weekly Forum on Washington Post.com called "On Leadership". I am compiling all of his responses to the weekly questions here.
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DATE: March 23, 2010 GOP on health care: Choosing the right battle? Having failed to stop health care reform, Republican leaders have vowed to make repealing it their rallying cry in the November elections. What lessons could they draw from political history and the experience of leaders in other fields? |
Republican Plan B?
Republican leadership wagered everything on defeating health care legislation and crippling Obama's presidency. They lost and left behind an angry, frightened constituency. Their strategy for victory in November rests on hope that the legislation can be used to keep on stirring up the anger that is already bubbling over into viciousness and hate. If Americans come to like the legislation, what is the Republican plan B?
The legislation is a major start to reforming the health care system. We now need to build on this platform to control costs and improve quality. Americans boast that we have the best health system in the world, but studies, including one I did for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, show a huge variability in the effectiveness and efficiency of our health care organizations. The best American health care organizations are the best in the world. Others need the incentives and support to improve.
Beyond health care, there are major challenges for Congress to strengthen the economy, stimulate employment, become energy independent, improve the schools. Is it utopian to hope that Republicans would study these problems and offer solutions based on encouraging free enterprise?
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