Steven Green (of Vodkapundit) seems to think that Democrats have forgotten the old saying, “It’s not whether you win or lose, It’s How You Play the Game. Assuming that Drudge is right, I’m going to have to go with him on this one. It may very well be a straight Republican ticket for me this year.

I’ve decided to step back from the War (because several people, like Bill Whittle, cover that so much better than I could ever dream of doing). Since last night was the domestic policy debate, I decided to look at the domestic issues. Specifically, I’m looking at health care.

I don’t quite understand Kerry’s healthcare plan. It seems, well, magical. He says it’s an opt-in system that will allow us to purchase the same health care coverage that Senators get, from Blue Cross Blue Shield. Fair enough, but why don’t I just call up BCBS and get the coverage myself? I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m betting it’s because they won’t give me nearly as good a deal, and I have to wonder why.

My understanding of the insurance business may very well be completely wrong, but here’s a very simplified version of the way I think it works (Numbers are PFA). Someone at the insurance company sits down and figures out that, for every 100 people, we use $X a month in health care costs. This includes emergency costs, and while chances are that 950 of those 1000 people make up, say, 10% of the cost, whereas the other 50 are combined to make up 90% of it. All 1000 people agree to share costs because they’re afraid they might be the ones who have an emergency and need the extra healthcare. The money isn’t generated magically (as it might seem if you’re the person paying Y in monthly fees and getting 10Y in health care services for it) — it comes from somewhere.

I have this nagging feeling that, if I have health insurance through work (which I do, though I never utilize it enough to get past the deductible) and opt out of the Kerry plan, I won’t be allowed to opt out of paying for it. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe if I look at it a little more, the Kerry plan will make sense.

First, a second assumption, this one regarding the way that I think healthcare works: Nationwide, the more money we pump into health care, the healthier we as a populace are. Seems pretty straightforward, though there are obviously problems if we pump money into the system and said money pays for something besides healthcare.

John Kerry’s plan offers us better healthcare while we pay less of a price. How does that work? Admittedly, there could be an economic principle that I’m missing here, but he’s saying that less money will go into the system, and more services will come out.

Here’s what he says he’s going to do:

• Cut your premiums – Less money goes in.
• Cover All Americans With Quality Care – More services come out.
• Cut the Cost of Prescription Drugs – More medication comes out.
• Cut Waste and Inefficiency

A-HA!

Since the first part doesn’t seem to jibe with the second and third parts (it goes against our “more money = better service” principle), the true key must come in that step. Let’s go see what it says.

Today, approximately 25 percent of health care costs are wasted on paperwork and administrative processing. The Kerry-Edwards plan harnesses American ingenuity to cut waste, save billions, and take new steps to ensure patient privacy.

IF the amount of “waste” we can shave off of the system makes up for the fact that we’re paying less, Kerry’s plan might work. However, there are scant few details on the website to determine how Kerry’s plan works (it’s more promise and fluff than anything else), so I can’t tell determine how it would really work.

Other related stuff:

Michelle Malkin (who just got a link on my sidebar) touches on the problems with the prescription drugs part of Kerry’s plan when she talks about The Flu Shot Question.

Unrelated (except that it was also brought to my attention by Michelle Malkin): More Despicable Democrat Bigotry. I haven’t known a lot of MR/DD kids, but I’ve known enough that I find this just as disgusting (and possibly even more so) than the racist political cartoon I mentioned a couple of posts ago. You may note that the cartoon isn’t available via my link anymore. It’s been taken down, though there’s been apology or no real explanation as to why.