By Richard Walrath 

I see where the Wall Street Journal is ecstatic over George Bush’s speech to the nation concerning health care and taxes. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” the unnamed editorial writer crowed. “The U.S. has long needed a debate over health care and tax subsidies, and President Bush got ready to rumble last night with his proposal to make insurance more affordable for most Americans.”

Say, what? A claim like that is over the top even for the Wall Street Journal. Just who is it that would be persuaded to buy health insurance under Bush’s plan? Maybe the Bush folks just ran out of ways for more tax-cuts. We don’t need any more debates about health insurance. We need to have something done about health insurance. Employers are cutting back and charging employees more on their premiums. The increase each year is often more than an employee’s wage increase.

It’s hard to find words to describe the impact Bush’s plan will have on people in this country who need health care. Those who need help the most will get nothing. If you don’t have health insurance because you can’t afford it, you get no tax-cut — and you still don’t have health insurance. My guess would be that those who don’t have health insurance probably have some pre-existing condition, which is the reason they can’t afford health insurance. A rated health insurance policy for an individual can easily cost as much as $8,000 a year even with a high deductible.

If Bush really wanted to escape being the worst president in this country’s history, he would get together with the Democrats and come up with a plan providing health insurance for all. He now has less than two years to get that done. If he’s ready to rumble, he better get started because time sure flies when you’re having so much fun.