THE COMPLETE ARTICLE
THE NEW YORK TIMES
OP-ED COLUMNIST
THE NEW YORK TIMES
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Edwards Gets It Right
By PAUL KRUGMANPublished: February 9, 2007
Senator John Edwards has put forward a smart, serious health care proposal.
What a difference two years makes! At this point in 2005, the only question seemed to be how much of America’s social insurance system — the triumvirate of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — the Bush administration would manage to dismantle. Now almost all prominent Democrats and quite a few Republicans pay at least lip service to calls for a major expansion of social insurance, in the form of universal health care.
But fine words, by themselves, mean nothing. Remember “compassionate conservatism?” I won’t trust presidential candidates on health care unless they provide enough specifics to show both that they understand the issues, and that they’re willing to face up to hard choices when necessary.
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People who don’t get insurance from their employers wouldn’t have to deal individually with insurance companies: they’d purchase insurance through “Health Markets”: government-run bodies negotiating with insurance companies on the public’s behalf. People would, in effect, be buying insurance from the government, with only the business of paying medical bills — not the function of granting insurance in the first place — outsourced to private insurers.
Why is this such a good idea?
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1 comment:
Yes Edwards has a smart health plan.
Americans are going to need it. Broke, homeless soldiers returning from war are will require a modicum of care.
Edwards plans to assault Iran with nuclear weapons on behalf of Israel will set off a global tsunami of terror, that soldiers will bear some of the brunt of.
And American citizens at home, of course.
Think about it.
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