A GOP SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM

Re-define it out of existence! That's what one of McCain's (former) health care advisers said yesterday.

Texas still leads nation in rate of uninsured residents

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
By JASON ROBERSON / The Dallas Morning News
jroberson@dallasnews.com

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Goodman may not in fact be any sort of adviser to McCain's campaign but the philosophy of his solution is similar. From Jonathan Cohn at the New Republic:

The McCain health plan, as discussed previously, is perfectly consistent with Goodman's statements, which have represent mainstream conservative thinking on health care these days.