Health care reform continues to dominate the headlines and the energy output of the Democrats. Paul Krugman had a great op-ed today on myths in the media on health care reform, and he closes his article with a simple sentence:

“This is a reasonable, responsible plan. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

After writing probably 50 articles about the health care reform legislation since last summer, I have to say that I agree with him. Yesterday I thought a little about the difference between health care controlled by profit and health care controlled by government agencies. Neither sounds that great, as I’d prefer doctor collectives or something like that, but that’s far from on the table. But imagine if that worked… something like what Bettermeans is doing with decentralized organizational control, but applying to health care. As Krugman says, the plan is reasonable and responsible.

Krugman outlines 3 myths that have taken on media prominence lately:

1. President Obama wants a government takeover of 1/6 of the economy (health care’s current share of the GDP)

As Krugman eloquently and simply points out, the government already pays for almost half of the U.S.’s health care expenditures in Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. He goes on to say that the only place where health care is broken is for unemployed people or those who can’t get insurance through their employer- rising premiums, no coverage for pre-existing conditions and a dropping of coverage when you start using your insurance. I have to agree with him in his opinion that What’s wrong with reforming that part so that those folks can get coverage? Um, nothing.

2. Health Care Reform will be more expensive later than the current system.

To paraphrase his appraisal of the situation:

“…critics point to reports by the Medicare actuary, who predicts that total national health spending would be slightly higher in 2019 with reform than without it. Even if this prediction were correct, it points to a pretty good bargain. The actuary’s assessment… finds that it would raise total health care spending by less than 1 percent, while extending coverage to 34 million Americans…”

Pretty good deal. Add 34 million people for a 1% cost increase. That would pass even the most cynical Wall Street money market manager’s cost-benefit analysis. No bailout required.

3. Health Care Reform is fiscally irresponsible.

He points out that the argument that Congress will not limit Medicare when it comes time to do so in the legislations time-line don’t follow historical trends that do just that- and that the criticism is really a signal that we can’t control Medicare costs in general- not of Obama’s health care reform ideals.

In the end, Krugman points out 3 key myths- ones that we should all consider, as the legislation is surely gaining steam once again. Reid is working out the issues in the Senate and Pelosi is going “member-by-member” in the House to figure out how to get it to pass. That shows a pretty solid pace of energy to make something happen. The protests have been had at town meetings last year, and the fact that it is still top of the list after Senator Kennedy’s death shows that the Democrats are not going to be backing down.

Photo Credit: LocoMotion Photography (via Flickr under CCL)