Are You in the Majority?
CBS News is reporting the results of a CBS News/New York Times poll that says that the majority of Americans (57% of them, still not a resounding majority, mind you) would be willing to pay higher taxes for universal health care. My goodness! That almost sounds....European! Or even worse....socialist!
How could Americans be so vulgar? Maybe they are just desperate. After seeing what happens when a health care system based on free market principles actually fails because it really isn't a free market. And when health insurance is based on employment and unemployment rises to 8.5%, perhaps even somewhat slow-to-adapt Americans get the idea that employment-based health insurance isn't such a good idea.
If you are still holding out that state-sponsored healthcare isn't such a good idea, maybe it's time to reconsider. Being in the majority may be a good thing, just this once.
Summer Johnson, PhD
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You and the article both are conflating "providing insurance to the uninsured" with "universal health care". Do you not distinguish between these?
- by Laura(southernxyl) on Apr 7, 2009 at 9:37 PM | link
This is a very nice refutation to the Op-Ed written by Ramesh Ponnuru in the NY Times today (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/opinion/09ponnuru.html), wherein he claims that "it’s not clear that people would accept higher taxes, mandates or the prospect of rationing health care one day just to make sure that every individual is covered."
Apparently, most Americans DO feel universal health coverage is a moral imperative.
- by Linda MacDonald Glenn on Apr 9, 2009 at 8:53 AM | link