PrintApril 29, 2012
Single Payer Is Not the Answer
We may want, even pray for, a quick, simple, painless answer to big, hard problems. Our brains know that that will never happen. Still, we let our emotions dictate our expectations. So it was with Sarah van Gelder's panegyric for the single-payer solution to healthcare.
Her article was filled with errors, magical thinking, and one truth whose implications escaped the author. Van Gelder starts by saying healthcare has been in trouble ever since the Republicans convinced the Obama administration to drop the public option (for health insurance). Recall that in 2008-09, Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress and the White House. Had they wanted the public option in the Reform Bill, it would have been in.
Much more important is the egregious implication that healthcare wasn't in trouble until the Republicans (sic) stopped the magical answer: single-payer. In reality, healthcare has been in deep trouble for over 45 years -- ever since Congress broke...(Read Full Article)
