Daschle's Legacy

Obama has undermined what was supposed to be a central tenet of his administration: that he would sweep away the rules under which Washington cossets itself in a surreal bubble where lobbyists, members of Congress, industry heavyweights, fat-cat donors and other insiders do their own bidding first and put the people's interests last.

--Marie Cocco, Washington Post

Cocco is a liberal, a Hillary supporter. Obama may have had a great inauguration, but it’s been a rough two weeks since. What do you bet Tom Daschle withdraws as health and human services secretary-designate to save Obama further embarrassment?

I think Daschle can pull out without undermining his stealth strategy to push through national health insurance. If anything, Daschle’s troubles may cause the Obama team to work even harder on health insurance as a memorial to Daschle’s efforts.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel documented the strategy’s key elements:

1. In a 2008 book outlining his health-care reform, Daschle offered Democrats two pieces of political advice: Move fast, before there can be a public debate, and write as vague a bill as possible. By the time America wakes up to what's happening, it'll be too late.

2. Democrats first passed a State Children's Health Insurance Program double in size, making eligible kids whose parents make $65,000 a year, covering pregnant women, and automatically enrolling their new arrivals. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates 2.4 million individuals will drop their private coverage for the public program.

3. Now the $820 billion stimulus package dramatically expands the number of Americans who qualify for Medicaid. It covers Americans who have lost their jobs, their spouses and their children, those who lost jobs early last year, and those who will lose their jobs up to 2011. The federal government is footing the whole bill, while mostly forbidding states to apply income tests. CBO estimates: an additional 1.2 million covered in 2009.

4. The stimulus package also expands Cobra, the program that lets unemployed retain access to their former health benefits for 18 months. Now any former employee over the age of 55 can keep Cobra until Medicare at 65. And while employees previously paid their Cobra premiums, the feds now will pay 65%. CBO estimates: 7 million more Americans under federal coverage.

5. And the package makes the government the national coordinator for electronic health records, able to certify what platforms are acceptable, and cutting out a growing private market that is competing to improve transparency and let consumers compare providers and costs. Obama’s folks believe only government should be publishing (and setting) health-care prices.

As Strassel notes, “Democrats may move 10 million more Americans under the federal health umbrella -- in just four weeks!” And there’s more. Democrats are “gearing up for a Medicare fight, [planning] to lower the eligibility age to 55, [which] they'll pay for by slashing the private Medicare Advantage option.”

National health insurance by stealth, thanks to Daschle—dead or alive.