The Definition of a Republican

is the main thing that has changed since 1993-94 when the main Republican alternative to the Clinton plan was an individual mandate, setting up a private market, income based subsidies to help persons purchase cover, and national regulation of what insurance covered. This according to Dave Durenberger, a Republican Senator from Minnesota, back in the day in an interesting interview with Kaiser Health News about a week ago. I wrote this back in October on this issue.

As this health reform discussion comes to a conclusion one way or another, I think the big picture of what has happened is this. As the policy details of reform moved center, the rhetoric in opposition moved toward the apocalyptic. Has there been a true change in what Republicans/Conservatives think on reform? Or was this just blocking President Obama? Time will tell.