Or Norm will say anything on healthcare

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) has held three town-hall style forums, two in Willmar and Austin on Monday and one yesterday in Fergus Falls. He has had an election year epiphany on healthcare. The truth is there's such a boatload of material from these three forums that I hardly know where to begin. Someone filmed him in Willmar and posted the gem below on YouTube. In it he says "there are aspects to Hillary Clinton's health plan that I agree with." This is irrestible. He might want to have this one back.

I realize its rare, but I actually don't know what to say about this vid and I'll just let it stand on its own.

Turning to the traditional, small market media, The Rochester Post Bulletin and Fergus Falls Daily Journal articles gave Norm a free pass, but the West Central Tribune provided a counterpoint with commentary from DFL Party Chair Brian Melendez. In Fergus Falls Norm had this to say:

Coleman and other members of Congress are covered by the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program He agreed that some provisions of this program could serve as a blueprint for future health care insurance plans — on a nationwide basis.

At the same time, Coleman is against government-run health programs per se.
(Fergus Falls Daily Online)

This is the purest Norm-speak^(TM) I've read in a while. He's both for a universal health care, but not for it at the same time. Combined with his comments about Hillary and its becoming clear that he'll say just about anything on healthcare. Later in the article he talks about the Medicare Part D disaster he supported and voted for:

Feedback from those in attendance included concerns about Medicare Part D. That program, for many senior citizens, has become what some call too confusing with too many options.

Medicare Part D provides beneficiaries with assistance in paying for prescription drugs. The drug benefit, added to Medicare by a Congressional Act, began in January 2006. Coleman said he and his staff will do all they can while working with state and local agencies to help senior citizens narrow the options associated with Part D.

The senator agreed, after fielding a question from Dr. Patty Lindholm, that restructuring of Medicare reimbursement is needed. In recent months there have been cuts in the Medicare fee-for-service reimbursement system.
(Fergus Falls Daily Online)

So Norm will now work to help the seniors confused by the program that he and his fellow Republicans pushed through at the behest of the pharmaceutical industry. At least now he's finally seeing the damage this legislation is doing first hand by holding forums.

He also heard about it in Willmar. Maybe his waffling on healthcare is because he's hearing everybody talk about how bad things are.

Russ Bennett was leaving his office Monday morning to attend a health care forum with Sen. Norm Coleman when one of his employees stopped him with the news: The company's health care premiums are going up 15 percent next year.

Bennett, the owner of Bennett Office Technologies, shared the story with Coleman less than an hour later to illustrate how rising health care costs are gulping up an ever-increasing share of small-business expenses.

"We'd like to add a couple more positions, employ some people, but we can't," Bennett said. "It is affecting jobs."
(West Central Tribune)

As usual, Norm expressed his deep concern and this time offered some specifics on what he thinks should be done and the West Central Tribune reported it.

n Require all Americans to have some form of health care coverage, so those who are insured don't have to pick up the costs for those who aren't.

n Offer tax credits to help level the playing field for people who don't buy health insurance through an employer.

n Place more emphasis on preventive care.

n Provide grants that help health providers tap into technology, such as telemedicine and electronic health records, that allow them to be more cost-efficient.

n Provide more leverage for small businesses so they can buy health insurance for their employees at more competitive rates.
(West Central Tribune)

At the end of the article, DFL Party Chair Melendez dismissed Norm's ideas as "platitudes" and as "an election-year ploy." However, I think it would be worthwhile to analyze Norm's suggestions point by point. Before I get to that, I'd just like to toss out this beautiful turdblossom of Norm-speak^(TM) ...

Coleman said that everywhere he goes around the state, there are people who are pleased with the health-care system and people who are anxious about the rising expense of health care.

"Let us celebrate what we have, but keep focus on how to make it better," said Coleman.
[emphasis mine]
(Post Bulletin)

Now let's get down to analyzing what Norm had to say.

Required Health care?

How exactly does he propose to enforce this? Another layer of bureacracy? Or would he propose that the health insurance industry enforce this? I worry that this enforcement would be pretty draconian.

Tax credits

Republicans love tax credits. If it's not a tax break or letting the market correct the problem, the third option is a tax credit. Somehow people that cannot currently afford to buy health insurance are going to be able to find the extra money and then get a tax break later.

Emphasize preventative care

That would be awesome, if it was possible. Except how would the millions of uninsured be able to afford to go and see a MD. The uninsured only go to the doctor when it's a dire emergency. Norm needs to explain this a little further. It doesn't rise above what Melendez so aptly termed a "platitude."

Grants to upgrade record keeping

Norm thinks that this will significantly reduce the cost of medicine in America. How this will have a big enough impact to actually lower the cost of health insurance so that the uninsured can afford it is beyond me. Norm needs to explain this a little more thoroughly.

Help small businesses buy health insurance cheaper

Norm speaks of "providing more leverage" to small businesses so that health insurance is cheaper. Would this involve a tax credit? This is incredibly vague policy-wise, but amazingly specific when it comes to Norm-speak^(TM).

Summary

If Norm's goal is to confuse Minnesotans about where he stands on health care reform, he'll probably be very successful. However, after almost five years of doing nothing on health care reform except busting Scofflaw MDs with unpaid taxes from receiving Medicare payments, after five years of his voting as the pharmaceutical industy, HMOs and health insurance companies want him to, he'll be fooling nobody.

Despite the fact that more and more Minnesotans are willing to pay more for a universal health care solution, it scares Norm. Like most Republicans he's frightened by what term socialized medicine in which patients are limited to which doctors they can see and doctors are limited in how they can treat a condition or malady.

What about the horror stories of people denied coverage by their health insurance company? We already have someone else deciding what medical treatments we can and cannot have. How many people have run into situations in which their health insurance company refused to pay for a procedure or even denied it after the fact?

We have a health care crisis in this country and Norm's "platitudes" fail to address the underlying problem of the crisis -- the health insurance industry is making billions of dollars in profit denying people the care they need. These are the same people who will be funding Norm's reelection bid. Norm will never do anything to anger the people who are bankrolling his candidacy.