This priceless gem is from a New York Timeseditorial:
There is no easy solution short of increasing federal spending or finding a way to drive down the cost of drugs.
They're talking about the Medicare Part D drug benefit which has a "doughnut hole"- in which seniors are exposed for 100% of drug costs between $2,400 and $3,850.
Amazingly, more than 200 million nonelderly Americans – without government spending or any government price controls – have managed to find health insurance with no doughnut hole.
My Monday Health Alert seemed almost unremarkable. (How much more is there to say about Census numbers on the uninsured?) Yet it provoked quite a stir, including this editorial from Paul Krugman in today's New York Times.
At my blog I wrote that millions of those without health insurance could become insured if the need arose. For example, one in four qualifies for free government insurance, but has not enrolled. Many of them can and will enroll when they seek care in an emergency room. This is one of many reasons why Census statistics on the uninsured are misleading and unhelpful.
Krugman interpreted this to mean that I (and through guilt by association the entire Republican party) believe people have no problem accessing or paying for care and that I believe people do not need health insurance. This is not my position and Krugman should know better.
In a column last week, Krugman advised Democrats to "accentuate the negative" because "politics is ugly." I now see what he had in mind.