Health care bill passes, what to ask for in terms of transparency

Some claim that the transparency movement is overdoing it, but the passing of the health care bill championed by President Obama is a great reason to focus even more on open government.

Yesterday night, Congress passed the health care bill, amidst allegations of backroom deals and lack of transparency. Perhaps partisan politics have led to that charge, but the administration’s failure to post the bill before it was to be voted on, as it promised, was certainly a disappointment. Looking forward, what can we expect in terms of transparency from the health care bill if and when it becomes law?

To begin with, there are two figures we want to keep track of:

1) Individuals are required to purchase health insurance coverage or face a fine of up to $750 or 2 percent of their income. How many people pay this fine? Where does that money end up?

2) The claims are that roughly 32 million Americans will have health care who previously didn’t. There should be a method instituted to see what the exact, measurable results of these new policies will be.

There are many other numbers cited in the support of this bill, but they may change drastically from the estimates made during the creation of the bill, since the assumptions change as policies are adopted. Still, citizens need to track the implicit promises that have been made, like the two figures listed above.

It will be interesting to see how the most transparent administration in history deals with this monumental change in American politics.

You and I hold them accountable

The Reason Magazine blog has a funny post today titled It Depends on What the Meaning of the Word ‘Many’ Is:

In his recent interview with Fox News, President Obama promised that “the final provisions [of the health care bill] are going to be posted many days before this thing passes.” Yet The New York Times says a House vote is expected on Sunday, and “the Senate could pass the reconciliation bill [making changes to the health care bill sought by some Democratic congressmen] as soon as next week.” According to The Washington Post, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the health care bill “would be posted to the Web site of the House Rules Committee sometime Thursday morning.” As of noon Eastern time, it does not seem to be there.

Wait, that isn’t funny.

The easy part of transparency is demanding information, and listening to promises. All of this reverence paid to the idea of transparency may even serve the purpose of making people more aware of it as an issue. However, we have to hold politicians to their promises, not just ask for them. And we have to look at and try to understand information, not just demand good freedom of information laws.

For example, Attorney General Eric Holder had drawn much attention to his commitment to transparency. The fact that government has experienced absent accountability, selective transparency, and increased secrecy under the current administration is less touted. This article on the Examiner: Chicago draws attention to the fact that, while elected officials are basking in their own praises about how open and transparent they’ve been, they have failed to deliver on any of those promises—it is just praise and promises and more praise.

So as a small reminder: don’t forget. Don’t forget when someone promises information, and doesn’t give it to you. And hold someone to their transparency promises, even if the promises are vague. Remind officials of what they have stated they will do, and if they still fail to deliver, remind them with your ballot.

Transparency in the health insurance debate

Recently, the focus of discussion on the health insurance debate has come to include matters of transparency: are officials sharing their information with us?

Kentucky Republican Senator Jim Bunning has introduced a resolution that would require that all legislation in the Senate to be publicly available 72 hours before the legislation is up for consideration. A few senators have jumped on to support the effort.

Discussing transparency is one thing, but delivering on these promises is quite another. Obama and the senators pushing for transparency should not be allowed to bask in the glory that comes with supporting a good issue, while avoiding the consequences of not providing reform. There are a few things working against this effort. To begin with, transparency isn’t the most scandalous of headlines, so it’s a surprise that it’s a matter of discussion in the first place.

Another potential obstacle comes from critics of Bunning’s resolution who say too much information would confuse the average citizen.

Unfortunately, some are just focused on blaming the president for not delivering on transparency promises. This is a valid criticism. Still, the importance of transparency has less to do with taking down a particular politician, and more to do with empowering taxpayers. Transparency is important, regardless of who is in power or what the ends of transparency will be, because citizens are powerless without information on what the goings-on are in governments. The last check-and-balance on the government is watchful citizens demanding accountability.