My Buddy, My Buddy… Wherever I Go, He Goes

Jonathan Cohn, the go-to writer on health care at The New Republic, has an interesting piece on Hillary Clinton’s new health-care plan. He pitches her plan as something that should be acceptable to most liberals, and, in something of a blow for Clinton’s supposed centrism, admits that "the differences between what Clinton proposed and what Edwards proposed are downright miniscule. In fact, the plans are virtually identical." To sum up: if you love the Edwards plan, here’s Hillary!

Cohn also seems to be pretty excited by the fact that Clinton is working, or at least talking, with some business leaders about her health care ideas. He writes:

While she isn’t signaling compromise on universal coverage or going soft on insurers, she is embracing business–constantly invoking the wisdom of CEOs, talking up the need to establish partnerships with them, and tailoring her proposal with their companies’ needs in mind.

But this is no big deal. Garden variety rent-seeking has been a staple of the health-care debate for a while. Wal-Mart, for example, has, despite its rep as a free-market fortress, decided that it can elide flack for its health-care programs by joining up with Big Labor in support of universal care. Makes sense, in a way: It’s cheaper for them to foist the burden of health care onto the taxpayer. And, as Michael Cannon pointed out [PDF], the recent S-CHIP debate has seen industry support for government programs:

The “bootleggers” behind SCHIP expansion include those who stand to gain financially from greater government subsidies for health insurance and health care. They include several lobbying groups: America’s Health Insurance Plans, and the insurers it represents; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the drug manufacturers it represents; the American Medical Association and the physicians it represents; and the Federation of American Hospitals and the for-profit hospitals it represents.

It may be shrewd on Hillary’s part to portray herself as a business ally, and businesses might decide to go for HillaryCare because it offers some sort of short-term gain (or because they think it’s inevitable and just want to get the most they can out of whatever passes). But it’s nothing new, and shouldn’t be seen as a turn of the market crowd in favor of government-mandated coverage.