More on the "Universal Coverage" flacks Re: [lbo-talk] TNR: universal health care now! or how to work forWal-Mart

Nathan Newman nathanne at nathannewman.org
Fri Mar 17 08:28:29 PST 2006


As I noted in the last post, this whole "unversial coverage" meme among liberals started from the New America Foundation last fall. They've been pushing it hard and you're seeing the fruit of it in the attacks on Fair Share legislation as inefficient and the wrong solution.

Let's be clear that what the ACTUAL result they are looking to get is not single payer but something else:


>From an editorial written by the head of Health Policy at the New America
Foundation just as the Maryland Fair Share bill was about to pass: http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=article&DocID=2818

Wal-Mart Bill is No Solution By Len Nichols Director, Health Policy Program

"Attacking real or imagined health care villains, though sometimes necessary and always fun, will not make health care more affordable today or tomorrow unless we also face hard facts and reform our system. It is broken and our leaders know it, but courage to talk about real solutions is scarce, so most stick to diversionary tactics.

The ultraliberals' diversion is to blame capitalism and greed, to pretend that employers could just pay more while insurers and providers could charge less, which would occur under the magic of total government control...

Fixing the economy is hard, but we know a fair bit about how to fix the health care system: Require everyone to cover themselves, create a market in which they can do so fairly, subsidize those who need help and use information tools and better incentives to make our delivery system far more efficient than it is today so that we can afford to help those who need it, forever.

Diagnosing our health care situation is not difficult.

What we lack is the political leadership to level with the people. Perhaps that adult conversation can begin this week in Maryland."

Doug (and others)-- you're being played for fools if you don't understand what this whole upsurge in talk about "universal coverage" is all about. It's about mandates on individuals and Health Care Savings accounts and, at best, subsidized vouchers.

-- Nathan Newman



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