Another week, another blooper reel quote from our 45th president. This time about health care reform.
“I have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complex subject,” President Trump told reporters, referring to his plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, “nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.”
Nobody?
Sure, it plays as another rhetorical tic from a president — and candidate — known for his hyperbole. But it also come across as insulting as hell to the brokers, carriers and the trade associations experts who work hard representing this industry.
It also sounds like the lament of someone who hasn’t been paying attention. Presidents — and at least one first lady — have been pushing for a reform of the American health care system since President Harry Truman proposed “universal health care” more than 70 years ago.
The problem is twofold, at least. One persistent stumbling block is how incredibly convoluted our health care delivery — and payment — system is. It’s unlike any other economic transaction in our economy, uniquely expensive, deeply personal and literally life and death. Because of that, it very nearly defies the capitalistic model we’ve tried for decades to make it fit it into.
By extension, the second sticking point with reforming the health care is the lack of consensus on how to do it. Sure, we all agree health care in this country is a mess. But we can’t agree on anything else.
It seems as if the only person surprised by this “revelation” is the same person who claims to know how to fix it. And that sounds a lot like letting your teenager run the family budget: a recipe for disaster.