Gore Supports Single-Payer
Washington, November 14 - On a stage in a synagogue on New York's Upper West Side Wednesday night, Gore made this stunning announcement to several hundred people in response to a question from the event's host.
Gore suggested he was hesitant to reveal his position at this forum — but then declared that he had come "reluctantly" to the conclusion that single-payer is the best solution to the nation's health insurance crisis.
He offered no details for what kind of system he would favor, or how he would propose transitioning to such a massive change.
Afterward, a Gore spokesman said that the former Vice President would offer more specifics in the future for what kind of plan he envisions.
Long supported by the left, single-payer plans involve all money spent on health care being collected by some public agency or trust fund, which then pays for comprehensive coverage, delivered privately and publicly, for all citizens.
Issues of taxation, quality of care, availability of care, and medical innovation are all implicated in such a system, with Canada's plan often used as the basis for understanding and analysis.
For Gore, this represents a shocking switch. Although many of the people who worked with Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner on the Clinton health care plan at the start of the Clinton/Gore Administration were intellectually and morally sympathetic to single-payer, it was rejected as being simply too radical and too big a political target.
Even Bill Bradley, who frequently charged Gore during the 2000 presidential primary with being timid on finding health care solutions, disappointed many of his own supporters by not coming out for single-payer.
And if Gore is a presidential candidate for 2004, this gambit would allow him to outflank on the left even Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, whose calls for massive new spending on health care so far do not include support for single-payer.
Gore in the past actually has rejected single-payer. In fact, Ralph Nader in 2000 made criticism of Gore for not supporting single payer into a major platform plank. ...
Time and place matter in politics, of course, and if Gore had come out in favor of single-payer at any time before November 2000, when he was Vice President or a Veep running for president, this would have been gigantic news.
Now, in this strange situation that Gore finds himself in vis-a-vis the media, sometimes he says things that are really important and interesting, but they don't get much coverage. As another example, consider his speech on civil liberties in Delaware, which got barely a ripple in the press despite his scathing criticism of the Bush Administration.
The fact that Gore came out for single-payer on W. 83rd Street, in the midst of his book tour, in front of (as best The Note can tell) only two members of the media, means that perhaps it will drift away. ...
<http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/TheNote.html>
Carl
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