Controlling Costs

Now that we have come to the point where the bulk of healthcare reform has been passed, we enter into a phrase where our working theories, both on the left and the right, get put to the test. If this bill collapses the health care system and bankrupts the country, the right will be validated and will be able to use the popular disgust to repeal the bill and implement their own system.
However, I firmly believe that is not what will happen. While health care will need to continually be tweaked (as with any major program), I believe this bill has made the first major steps toward stopping the runaway freight train that has been health care costs all while guaranteeing near universal coverage. If I and progressives are right, here are five ways in which it will be accomplished:

(1) Create a competitive insurance market:
(2) Implement reforms through the Medicare Commission:
(3) Encourage cost control through a tax on "Cadillac plans"
(4) Change incentives through Medicare "bundling" programs
(5) Changing the politics of reform

Read Klein's article in full for the details, but suffice to say this is how the policy will be judged. The time for speculation has ended. When these reforms are fully implemented, we'll be able to see whose philosophy was right.