Thursday, August 15, 2019

"Comprehensive"

I share the wariness expressed by A Layman's Blog regarding comprehensive healthcare legislation.

It's easy to see the appeal of "comprehensive" when it comes to political horse-trading.  We all get some of what we want along with some of what we don't want but regard the overall package as a plus. That can work with some issues while creating mega-problems with others.

Comprehensive immigration reform poses a problem because if you don't already have a way of controlling immigration - such as a wall - at the time you pass a bill that contains advantages for illegal immigrants who are here, you create a major incentive for others to come across the border before the controls are tightened.

Healthcare has special problems of its own. The subject is so complicated that an incremental approach, while not addressing related concerns, has the advantage of reducing the number of unintended consequences.

We tried comprehensive. Let's consider incremental.

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