Will There Be Peace in Our Time?

After months of debate and confrontations, there seems to be some light shining in the East. Must be light bulbs coming on! Based on what is being discussed in each of the camps, a middle ground seems to be emerging. The most recent broadsides I seen seem to show this. If we can accept Thomas Sowell as the Conservative voice and David Brooks of the New York Times as the Liberal, here’s what seems to be happening.

Mr. Sowell’s most recent comments questions not so much the need for health care reform but, instead, Obama’s basic honesty and leadership. Brooks, on the other side, dissected O’s health care speech and noted each point that he, Brooks, believes will need to be modified or abandoned in order for the proposed health care bill to be acceptable.

After all the rhetoric, here seems to be the common ground that each side can agree to.

• It’s true that the Health Care system here in the United States is broken and neither side is happy with it.
• 45 Million may not be the right number but the United States does have too many uninsureds.
• The Tort system may be poorly functioning, the jury awards too generous and the legal system may need overhauling, which will, in turn, reduce the cost of malpractice coverage to the doctors.
• The benefit payments under a proposed Government mandated plan, if similar to Medicare reimbursement in amount will probably drive many healthcare professionals out of business.
• There is waste and inefficiencies in the current Medicare administrative system.

Each of these discussion points have advocates and detractors lobbying for their own positions. It will be interesting to see if the newly recognized strength of the Tea Parties and their own awakened constituency will drive our elected officials to “do the right thing”, ignoring the lobbyists and demands of their political party and, instead, support a bill that is best for the United States.