One health care economist's take on the Obama and McCain health care proposals

While he doesn't like everything about Obama's plan and how he speaks about it, he explains why it makes more sense to him than does McCain's. This will give you a taste, but it's well worth reading the whole thing. It's a start, at least for me, in understanding the contrasts between the two proposals and the challenges ahead.

Triage | Chicago Tribune | Blog: "Is Sen. Barack Obama’s health reform plan affordable, I asked one of the nation’s most distinguished health care economists today.

“Yes,” said Uwe Reinhardt, the James Madison professor of political economy at Princeton University, who spoke with me about the presidential candidates’ health care proposals. But maybe the question should be phrased differently, he suggested.

“What we should be asking is, ‘Can average American households afford not to have this plan?’” Reinhardt offered."