Here's Pete Stark from December 2008 on the prospects for health care reform:
Interest groups, too, deserve opportunities to make their cases, Stark said. He singled out the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
The health insurance industry, Stark predicted, would never support a Democratic health reform effort, but he said they could be easily overcome.
"They're going to be easy to roll because nobody likes insurance companies," he said.
Hmm. That one didn't quite work out.
As you might have noticed lately, I am big on accountability, learning from our mistakes, and improving tactics. What is interesting to me about health care reform in the case of insurance companies is whether the game was fixed, or an opportunity was missed.
On the one hand, you could make the game was fixed argument that insurance companies are more moneyed and powerful, have more lobbyists and connections, etc. I've also heard the campaign finance argument, which is we'll never achieve fundamental reform not just on health care but on lots of other issues until we have fundamental campaign finance and lobbying reform to establish public financing of elections, eliminate the revolving doors between members of Congress and K Street, and so forth. Therefore Pete Stark is wrong that they could be easily overcome because he forgets that issue.
On the other hand, I recall that when Obama gave his late October radio address ripping insurance companies, the first thought in my head was "it's about time". Other friends said that with his cutting of all these side deals with pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, insurance companies to find cost savings, he in turn agreed to shy away from such rhetoric, which was a mistake. Therefore Pete Stark was right that insurance companies are easy to demonize, it's just that our side never took advantage of it.
I tend to think it's actually something of both, but it's worth thinking about for future fights.
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