Good for the goose

President-elect Obama has selected (ex-Senate Majority Leader) Tom Daschle as his candidate for the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), to be his point person for reforming our nation's health care system. Daschle et al. have written a book, outlining his proposals re how this can be done - Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis

This blogger is now waiting with bated breath for denunciations from Paul Krugman, Steve Clemons, Josh Marshal, et al. After all when (during the campaign) Senator McCain proposed liberalizing the rules governing the health insurance companies and analogized it to a similar change that had occurred in banking, Krugman mocked him for "... promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry! ..." This meme was picked up and repeated by Steve Clemons, 'John McCain: Let's do to Health Care All the Great Things We Have Done to Banking.'

The centerpiece of Daschle's proposals is the creation of a Federal Health Board, a "... quasi-governmental organization, It would have a board of governors consisting of clinicians, health benefit managers, economists, researchers... chosen based on their stature , knowledge, and experience.... the president would appoint them to Senate-confirmed ten-year terms... would also have regional boards...", etc., etc. ... (This FHB) would oversee insurers, promote "high value" medical care, align incentives with high-quality care, and also "rationalize" the U.S. health-care infrastructure."

And what is this Federal Health Board based on? Why, the Federal Reserve Board which governs the U.S. banking system. So, perhaps it wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to say that Daschle (and by extension Obama) is 'promising that if we similarly regulate health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!' or else Senator Daschle (and by extension Obama) 'wants to do to health care all the great things we have done to banking!' Cue rolling of eyes and insane laughter...

Hello, Krugman, Clemons, Marshall, anyone... Waiting, still waiting... Cue chirping of crickets!

Truth RIP (updated 9/22)