Kay Bailey’s Take on Health Care

We know what Rick Perry thinks of health care reform (and it ain’t positive). We also know what he’d do about it if he had his way (hint: it involves giving a lot of public money to private insurance companies).

But what does Kay Bailey think?

Well, yesterday we finally heard from the state’s senior U.S. senator. Hutchison published an op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman headlined “Another Model for health care reform.”

Hutchison begins by dismissing the current proposals:

[T]he proposals put forward by the Obama administration and the Democratic congressional leadership would create a massive government plan for health care and crowd out the choices Americans expect….A federal government takeover of our nation’s health care will limit, if not eliminate, an individual’s options in insurance and delivery.”

Can you tell she’s running in a Republican primary?

I’ll just note, for the record, that this is a grand distortion: None of the health care reform bills that Congress is seriously considering includes a “government takeover.” Some of the plans include a limited public option, but it’s looking increasingly like that may be negotiated away — to the great chagrin of many Liberals.

Hutchison, like Perry, wants states to craft their own reforms, as opposed to flowing orders from Washington.

But compared to Perry’s plan, Hutchison’s proposal is rather thin. In fact, it’s more outline than plan.