Dean in Paris, Universal Health Care & Small Business
Sitting at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris yesterday I met a guy from Georgia. He was on his way to Vienna on business. He does some computer-related security consulting, or something like that (I confess that these IT jobs all sound the same to me).
We got to talking about politics and wouldn't you know it:
Turns out the guy had never been to the website, didn't know about Meet-up (but seemed quite excited when I explained it), and didn't even know that Dean was a physician.
As we got to talking, he made a fantastic point about health care. He's married and has kids. He works for a big company but, like everyone, would like to work for himself.
The one thing keeping him from starting his own business: health insurance. The high cost and shifting availability of health insurance is the single biggest factor why he, and presumably many others, cannot become an entrepreneur.
Universal, affordable health care that can never be taken away would promote small business. And sure enough, Dr. Dean is on the case. His plan will support small business by "letting them buy into the federal employee look-alike program at reasonable rates."
The Dean plan is business-friendly. Besides allowing more people to live the American dream by starting their own business, it creates less than a tenth of the new business costs to employers of all kinds than the Gephardt plan.
Howard Dean is already the fiscal moderate in the race as the only candidate, Republican or Democrat, to have ever balanced a budget. With a president who has no plans to bring health care security to potential entrepreneurs and whose only plan to reduce skyrocketting health care costs to business is to limit damages against quack doctors, Howard Dean seems positioned to use the health care issue to make the case that he is the pro-business candidate.
We got to talking about politics and wouldn't you know it:
HIM: I don't think Bush will survive this next election.After two weeks in the U.S. spent knocking on doors, handing out fliers, and telling everyone I met about him, I'm sitting in Paris minding my own business and someone starts talking to me about Howard Dean.
ME: Oh? You mean that you don't want him to?
HIM: Oh, yeah. He's been terrible.
ME: So who do you think it will be for the Democrats?
HIM: I really like this guy Dean.
Turns out the guy had never been to the website, didn't know about Meet-up (but seemed quite excited when I explained it), and didn't even know that Dean was a physician.
As we got to talking, he made a fantastic point about health care. He's married and has kids. He works for a big company but, like everyone, would like to work for himself.
The one thing keeping him from starting his own business: health insurance. The high cost and shifting availability of health insurance is the single biggest factor why he, and presumably many others, cannot become an entrepreneur.
Universal, affordable health care that can never be taken away would promote small business. And sure enough, Dr. Dean is on the case. His plan will support small business by "letting them buy into the federal employee look-alike program at reasonable rates."
The Dean plan is business-friendly. Besides allowing more people to live the American dream by starting their own business, it creates less than a tenth of the new business costs to employers of all kinds than the Gephardt plan.
Howard Dean is already the fiscal moderate in the race as the only candidate, Republican or Democrat, to have ever balanced a budget. With a president who has no plans to bring health care security to potential entrepreneurs and whose only plan to reduce skyrocketting health care costs to business is to limit damages against quack doctors, Howard Dean seems positioned to use the health care issue to make the case that he is the pro-business candidate.
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