E. J. Dionne Slams David Brooks On Obamacare
The Washington Post’s E. J. Dionne slammed New York Times’ David Brooks for his rather arcane views of Obamacare and American individualism.
When David Gregory asked what makes the panel feel Obamacare would look better in 2014, there were various opinions. David Brooks was unconcerned with implementation. He seems to concede that in the long run Obamacare will be correctly implemented. He takes exception to the mandate.
Brooks implies technical part of Obamacare will work when he disregards website.
“Two issues, first the competency issue of getting the website. That’s by far the least important,” David Brooks said. “The most important issue is the mandate issue. Basically, when you have any big government program, you build the system, and you say to people you have to work within the system. And sometimes we are going to limit your choice. We are going to mandate things. But the American people do not like mandates anymore. We are a much more individualistic culture.”
David Brooks then accuses the Obama administration of surrendering the mandate whenever there was any pushback.
E. J. Dionne’s response was perfect. “I think there is something crazy when people say government can’t deliver healthcare. Ever heard of Medicare? Ever heard of Medicaid? And there is a mandate to pay taxes for those things,” he said. “This thing is complicated because President Obama chose to go for a model that is a market-oriented model that Republicans favor of helping people buy private insurance. That proves to be very complicated. But what you are seeing already is that there is an enormous appetite by all the Americans who do not have health insurance to buy it and that is what’s going to save Obamacare. This is filling a real need in society.”
David Brooks then came back with a laughable statement. “Society is not the same as it was in the 1930s and the 1960s,” he said. “There is less faith in government. It’s a much more consumer system. So if you can’t force people into the system and people rebel against the enforcement, then you really have a problem.”
Brooks, of course, fails to note that the rebellion was caused by the lies Republicans came up with. Their intent was to scare people, confuse people, and demonize the bill to create the rebellion against the mandate his side despises.
Dionne forces Brooks to concede to America’s healthcare rationing pre-Obamacare.
E. J. Dionne had the correct response. “Every rich democracy in the world uses government to deliver healthcare,” he said. “France spends less per capita in government spending to cover everybody than we spend for just Medicare and Medicaid. So this thing can work. It needs fixes. And I think the next move by the president is to tell Republicans, you want to fix this or do you just want to get rid of it.”
David Brooks attempted the typical scare tactics about the French/European systems. He claimed that these countries told people they are too old for an operation or would have to wait a long time. E. J. Dionne shot back that in America the same thing occurs implicitly when millions do not have insurance. David Brooks was forced to concede that point.
The hypocrisy and inhumaneness of those in ivory towers with Cadillac insurance plans talking about what Americans want are laughable. E. J. Dionne unlike most on the panel displays the necessary empathy Americans need in real journalism.